LA LÍNEA VERTICAL is a benchmark in safety and has established itself as the leading company in Spain in industrial rescue, with hundreds of thousands of hours of practice. We have a staff of more than 40 highly experienced and trained professionals, who are specialists in providing solutions to complicated safety situations on steep slopes and in locations of special risk.
Since 2005, LA LÍNEA VERTICAL has been providing a pioneering industrial rescue service through its Shutdown Support Group (GAP), acting in general shutdowns in large factories in the petrochemical and energy industries. The professionals who provide this service are extraordinarily committed to ensuring that no one gets hurt, our motto in shutdowns.
We have carried out rescue projects for REPSOL, CEPSA, EXXON-MOBIL, AKER KVAERNER, BP OIL, VIESGO, ENEL ENDESA, NATURGY, DRAGADOS OFFSHORE, BASE NAVAL DE ROTA, FERTIBERIA, ENCE, APM TERMINALS.
LA LÍNEA VERTICAL’s rescue groups are made up of two or three technicians, always with a level 3 supervisor from prestigious rope access associations (ECRA, IRATA, FISAT…), accompanied by a large amount of technical material to support the rescue. We work according to the client’s timetable, in 8-, 10- or 12-hour shifts and day or night shifts, as required.
SUPPORT FOR SHUTDOWNS IN LARGE FACTORIES
The work of the Shutdown Support Group is carried out in three phases: before the shutdown, during the shutdown (according to the indications of each client) and after the shutdown.
In the phase prior to the shutdown, members of the LA LÍNEA VERTICAL team meet with the Plant’s Prevention and Maintenance Service to analyze the scope of the work to be carried out, as well as technical assistance if opportunities for improvement are detected from a preventive point of view. They study the Plant’s internal regulations and procedures related to the work to be carried out and provide technical assistance in the analysis and evaluation of the risks to be avoided or controlled/minimized during the development of the work.
Our technicians join us one week before the start of the major shutdown on a full-time basis, from Monday to Friday, in shifts, to inspect the units where the maintenance work is to be carried out. This provides knowledge of the areas and controls and facilitates integration into the client’s work teams.
They carry out an analysis and delimitation and/or sectorization of work areas, as part of the coordination procedures for activities involving heavy machinery or suspended loads or overlapping work. They also analyze the equipment and areas where work will be carried out, from the specific point of view of rescue and evacuation, in order to prepare the procedure to be followed and the materials to be used in each of them, in the event of urgent evacuation of workers.
They also inspect the scaffolding and tool lockers to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and support the logistics and supply of materials for the shutdown.
During the shutdown, our team carries out inspections to ensure compliance with safety regulations and the correct application of the methods and procedures for coordinating activities established during the phase prior to the start of the shutdown. We supervise and coordinate signaling, collaborate in the correct application of the established traffic protocols, in the regulation of road and pedestrian traffic, and mainly in the maneuvers and movement of heavy cranes.
We also identify limiting factors in the stoppage (people, working methods, means, etc.) and propose solutions.
Our company’s technicians are particularly vigilant in the coordination of overlapping work and/or work on the same vertical, in maneuvers with heavy machinery, in the extraction and cleaning in situ of exchangers and the regulation of traffic during dangerous maneuvers.
Before work begins, five-minute safety talks are organized with the participation of middle management, the activities coordinator and the workers involved, so that they are familiar with the operations and to resolve any doubts that may arise.
We also advise contract companies during high-risk maneuvers, install lifelines for these companies and retractable fall arrest systems, as well as others that the client deems necessary.
The workers of LA LÍNEA VERTICAL Rescue Group support the entry to confined spaces and participate in daily meetings with maintenance, safety, inspection, operations and contractor personnel, where incidents or accidents (if any) of any circumstance in compliance with safety standards and application of procedures are exposed.
During the shutdown, a daily report is issued, including a photographic record of actions and working conditions.
The professionals of LA LÍNEA VERTICAL provide specialized support in the event that a rescue has to be carried out. They carry out a daily review of work at height and in confined spaces, based on the work permits requested, confirming compliance with the recommendations and procedures agreed prior to the stop, and install provisional rescue and evacuation systems, when necessary, both as a preventive measure and because of the need for rescue.
In the event of a rescue, our team of experts organizes the evacuation of the injured person, coordinates the installation of the means of evacuation (ropes, hoists, tripods, etc…) and carries out all operations, especially those of great difficulty, during rescues, as well as the transport and assembly of rescue equipment to the rescue area, not forgetting low-difficulty operations.
Once the stoppage has been completed, our technicians draw up a final report on the work, which contains, as a minimum, an analysis of the data collected during the stoppage, recommendations, and an assessment of the results.
A HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEAM
Training is fundamental in vertical work, and, in this sense, the staff of LA LÍNEA VERTICAL’s Industrial Rescue Group has extensive specialized training. Its members are people who have dedicated a great deal of personal effort over the years to achieve excellence. Thus, they have been thoroughly trained in different areas, such as first aid, industrial safety and prevention, rescue techniques, firefighting and chemical emergencies, among many others, so that they are highly qualified to carry out very complex tasks in extreme situations in a very efficient manner.
Our Rescue Group experts use cutting-edge techniques derived from the world of mountaineering and caving in their interventions, to access places that are difficult to reach and in conditions that are sometimes very unfavorable for life, due to the environment and circumstances. This is possible thanks to a high degree of technical preparation and great skills of the people who make up the teams, together with the use of the best materials on the market and an exhaustive knowledge of what they do.