Planning delivery, installation and commissioning responsibilities

Why responsibilities need to be written down

Most delays between order and handover come from gaps between parties rather than from the equipment. The equipment arrives but the room is not ready. The cables are the wrong size. Nobody arranged lifting. The shutdown window was not agreed. Each of these is avoided by stating, before the order, who is responsible for each step.

The stages to plan

Before dispatch

• Approval of drawings and documents, where required
• Inspection or witness testing, where agreed
• Confirmation of the delivery address, access route, receiving contact and unloading arrangement
• Confirmation that the site is ready to receive the equipment, or that storage is available

Delivery

• The delivery point: ex-works, delivered to site, or unloaded and positioned
• Unloading and lifting: equipment, people and permits
• Inspection on receipt: packaging condition, unit identity, accessories and visible damage, recorded before signing

Installation

• Civil works: plinth, foundation, trenches and floor loading
• Ventilation: openings, ducts or cooling for the room
• Cabling: supply, sizing, routing and termination on both sides
• Earthing: connection to the site earthing system
• Protection: upstream and downstream switchgear and settings

Commissioning

• Pre-commissioning checks of the installation
• Energisation, settings and functional checks
• The shutdown window and permits needed
• Records produced and who signs them

Handover

• Documents provided
• Operating guidance or training, if included
• The route for service requests after handover

A responsibility statement

For each step above, the order should name the responsible party: the buyer, the buyer's contractor, or the supplier. A simple statement in the form "Invitrona will…, the customer will…" removes ambiguity. Where a step depends on another, such as commissioning depending on a completed installation, the dependency is stated.

Typical divisions

Divisions vary by project. A common pattern for floor-standing equipment is that the supplier delivers and, where included, commissions, while the buyer's electrical contractor prepares the location, provides and terminates the cables, and connects the earthing. For transformers, the supply authority's inspection and the connection to the network are usually arranged by the buyer. These are patterns, not defaults; the order states the actual division.

Programmes across many sites

For multi-site programmes, responsibilities are easier to manage when they are stated once for the programme and confirmed per site. The programme defines the standard division of work; each site record confirms readiness, access, the receiving contact and any variation from the standard. A site that is not ready is rescheduled rather than handled under compromise, and the change is recorded so that the programme plan stays accurate.

Documents at each stage

Each stage produces a record: an approval of drawings before manufacture, an inspection record before dispatch, a receipt note on delivery, an installation completion note and a commissioning record. Agreeing in advance who signs each record, and where it is kept, avoids gaps when the project team changes.

Changes on site

When site conditions differ from those agreed, for example a smaller room or a longer cable route, the difference is recorded and its effect agreed before work continues. See controlling changes.

Safety

Installation and commissioning take place under the site's safety and permit system. Isolation, lifting and energisation are carried out only by competent people with the necessary permissions.

Next step

Read preparing for installation and commissioning and handover for the site preparation each stage needs. Invitrona states the proposed division of responsibilities in its quotation; send your project details through the enquiry form.