drawings - not having them

[steamboat601]

After 30 years of working on ships and boats and drilling rigs I am working "on land" as a maintenance electronic tech. Drawings are required on marine platforms. It is called a "construction porfolio." Through annual regulatory body surveys these portfolios can be and often are kept updated.

The plant I work in has NO certified drawings of power distribution, little on in-house manufactured control consoles and some "listed" stand-alone systems.

The plant is in Mississippi.

Is this allowed?

Is there a staute, code or CFR that requires these drawings? If there is I haven't found it.

Is anyone able to quote a chapter and verse to look at or does anyone have a link?

 

[don_resqcapt19]

Re: drawings - not having them

I have deleted your identical post in the NEC section. Please do not post the same question in multiple sections. Thanks. I would have sent you this message using the private message feature of the forum, but you have it disabled.
Don
moderator

 

[petersonra]

Re: drawings - not having them

I doubt there is any requirement to have certified drawings of anything.

I am not even sure what a certfied drawing is.

A sealed drawing has an engineer's stamp on it.

Where I once worked, when "certfied" drawings were required, we would go to the mail room, get the certfified stamp, and stamp the drawings. This is because the company lawyer determined there was no legal definition of what a certified drawing is, and the contract drawings never specified what it meant.

I would be more concerned about getting accurate drawings.

 

[steamboat601]

Re: drawings - not having them

Well Bob do you know if accurate dwgs are required? or are you between soap operas?

 

[steamboat601]

Re: drawings - not having them

oops! take 2. Well petersonra do you know if accurate dwgs are required? or are you between soap operas?

 

[charlie b]

Re: drawings - not having them

I'd say "welcome to shore-side engineering," but I have just transitioned from shore side to marine engineering. Anyway, welcome to the Forum.

The short answer is "no." I know of only one regulatory body that requires that a facility under its jurisdiction to keep as-built drawings up-to-date and accurate. That one body is the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The facility at which you work, like most others, is free to keep accurate drawings, or not to, as it sees fit. Most don't see fit, or more to the point, they don't see a cash value equal to or greater than the cash cost.

What this will mean to you is that, as a matter of personal safety, you will need to verify anything you touch, and not rely on the drawings. For example, if the drawing says that breaker 42 supplies power to this compressor, then after you open and "tag out" breaker 42, you had better make sure the power is off. Everyone should do this as a routine anyway. But you have a reason to doubt the accuracy of the drawings, so you know that you have to check, as opposed to merely knowing that it's a good idea to check.

 

[iwire]

Re: drawings - not having them

Originally posted by steamboat601:
After 30 years of working on ships and boats and drilling rigs I am working "on land" as a maintenance electronic tech. Drawings are required on marine platforms. It is called a "construction porfolio."

Sounds like you have been spoiled.

Very few places I work will have drawings or if they do they are partial, torn, coffee stained, buried under other 'stuff' etc.

It does make things a bit of a challenge trying to troubleshoot a machine you do not have any info on.

 

[steamboat601]

Re: drawings - not having them

This is great. Getting valuable responses from all over. Please keep your answers and your stories coming. They are very useful. It's a I got lemons and I want to make some lemonaid kind of thang.

[ January 04, 2006, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: steamboat601 ]

 

[tony_psuee]

Re: drawings - not having them

steamboat,

For the "listed" systems, UL requires any listed control panels to ship with a correct drawing and bill of material, can even be hand marked with as built corrections. What happens to them after they arrive is solely up to the end user. My suggestion for the listed systems would be to contact the vendor and ask for an installation, operation, and maintenance(IOM) manual. If the company is on the ball it should not only have the drawings but also suggested spare parts.

Tony

 

[petersonra]

Re: drawings - not having them

Originally posted by steamboat601:
oops! take 2. Well petersonra do you know if accurate dwgs are required? or are you between soap operas?

Don't waste my time on soap operas.

I do consider accurate drawings to be important. It makes it much easier to troubleshoot and maintain stuff.

I do not believe there is any legal or code requirement for it though except in a few limited cases.

 

[realolman]

Re: drawings - not having them

Originally posted by petersonra:

I do consider accurate drawings to be important. It makes it much easier to troubleshoot and maintain stuff.

I think it would be the most significant step possible to promote electrical safety in an industrial setting. Many times you wouldn't even have to get in a box. Forget the arc flash suits. Drawings should be the law.

[ January 06, 2006, 04:13 PM: Message edited by: realolman ]

 

[dlhoule]

Re: drawings - not having them

I would be more concerned about getting accurate drawings.

 

[dlhoule]

Re: drawings - not having them

Whoops! I got ahead of myself.

You mean there is actually such a thing as accurate drawings.