Local 128 Receives Letter of Recognition

Tower 101 rigged up to be removed from the top of the fin fans

In the Spring of 2019 during one of the largest shutdown seasons in the history of the refineries of Sarnia, Ontario, Lodge 128 received a job order for a crew of experienced riggers to remove a tower that had a structural failure. The following is a letter of recognition that was sent to Dale Quinn, Business Rep for the Sarnia Office, from Tom Vansickle of Kel-Gor Limited.

This letter is for the whole crew of Boilermakers that have been involved here with me to get the T 101 tower out of the unit after the unfortunate incident of the tower falling over onto the fin fans at Imperial Oil Limited (IOL) Sarnia on the night of April 2nd, 2019. The tower had a structural failure at the 60' foot level due to pyrophorics catching fire and melting the shell. We were asked to come in and remove the tower from the unit. There were many challenges all the way through this job, one of them was the fact it was sitting on top of fin fans 60' above grade. Much of the work to be done was from 150' man lifts to reach the tower.

I called you on Friday April 12th and said I need a crew of riggers that can handle large rigging. At that time everyone was working. But you found me a crew. Most were from out of town and out of province. When they showed up, we did not know each other. Our crew was a mix of four travel cards and four locals. I was able to borrow four Boilermakers from other Kel-Gor jobs for a short period to get the initial 5” slings on the one end of the tower to make it safe. We soon had to learn how each other worked. But because they were Boilermakers it didn't take us long. We spoke the same language and understood each other, soon it was like they knew us and we them for most of our careers. The months of April and May gave us record rainfall. These guys never left and went home. They totally understood the importance of this job. They all showed up every day and WORKED.

On the second part of removal where we had to remove the vertical section of the tower and we welded 30" trunnions to lift the vessel. Our welders performed as always with out exception. Then when we brought the tower out to the road we had to weld a special tailing beam to the bottom which we had cut slots into the shell for it to fit on . First, I was impressed with the layout because it fitted perfect. Then when we had to weld it with pouring rain coming down on the crew. Hoarding was not keeping the rain off; crew members took a propane torch and held it on shell above welder to keep the shell dry while welding. But the welders had rain running down their backs and never stopped.

This job is what makes me PROUD to be part of the Boilermaker family.

Thanks for your assistance.

The following Boilermakers have been part of the crew (some in and out as needed) for removal of T101 tower:

Days:
Dave Martin (Foreman), L-128
Rob Pierson (Foreman), L-128
Darcy Altwasser, L-555
Jim Lorencz, L-555
Jacques Cormier, L-73
Hyunjong Song, L-128
Derek Wyld (Steward), L 128
Scott Stewart, L-128
Jason Nisbit, L-128
Paul Muckian, L-128
Richard MacDonald, L-128
Joe McLean, L-128
Josh Clements, L-128
Luke Goldschmidt, L-128
Lee Wilson, L-128
Genero Ramos, L-128
Dragon Oblak, L-128
Dylan steel, L-128

Nights:
Ray Palocz (Foreman), L-128
Jeff Spence (Foreman), L-128
Justin Giffels, L-128
Grant Miniely, L-128
Steve Burton, L-128
Matt Farr, L-128
Brandon Ryan, L-128
Jeff Desaulnier, L-128
Stephen Krall, L-128
Joe Joa, L-128

The work done by Kel-Gor and the Boilermakers was also recognized by the company supervisor Gary R. Lott:

We would like to recognize the exceptional contribution and efforts that you all performed on the demo phase of T-101. Please fell very proud of yourselves and know that I am proud of you too. Tom Vansickle, you and your team mobilized manpower on short notice of us having an issue. We asked Kel-Gor for their Best crew…. You know, we got it! You got up to speed fast and performed multiple excellent and Safe lifts for Imperial Oil Limited, You and your people displayed professionalism on the job that was observed and praised by server responsible parties, Also, some that that stood out was the leadership shown by you to maintain your team’s commitment to use of the LPS tools that we have in place. Please pass along that Imperial Oli Limited not only thanks you, but your entire work crew for a safe T-101 demo job…. Well done!

Derek Wyld said "Boilermakers know what we have to do, and we do it because we are proud"

The Job Steward was Brother Derek Wyld, a long-time member of 128 and one of the first people on the job from day one. “When the Boilermakers appeared on the job, we knew we had a challenge, but that is what Boilermakers do, we know what we have to do, and we do it because we are proud”.

Derek tells us what impressed him was how well everyone on the project worked together, he said “the safety was top notch from the employer and client” he added “before we start the day management would come to the crew to explain the tasks for the day, they would ask us our opinions, take that back to review and return back with a rigging plan that would include many of the suggestions we made, if they didn’t use the suggestions they would explain why, the communication was great between the crew of Boilermakers, crane operators, the employer and the client, this is what got the job done safe.”