Industrial Containment Services, Facilities and Projects That Benefit the Most

Safe­ty must be tak­en seri­ous­ly in your facil­i­ty, espe­cial­ly in indus­tries deal­ing with haz­ardous mate­ri­als or requir­ing clean envi­ron­ments. One of the ways to min­i­mize the risks present in an indus­tri­al facil­i­ty is to invest in indus­tri­al con­tain­ment services.

Indus­tri­al con­tain­ment ser­vices have many appli­ca­tions, typ­i­cal­ly to pre­vent haz­ardous chem­i­cals from spilling. But this arti­cle will focus on the con­tain­ment of for­eign object debris (FOD). We will also look at facil­i­ties and projects that would ben­e­fit from the ser­vice the most.

What Is FOD Containment?

Cer­tain indus­tri­al facil­i­ties and projects pro­duce large amounts of debris. This debris is called for­eign object debris (FOD) and must be cleared or con­tained prop­er­ly. Oth­er­wise, it could dam­age assets, cre­ate safe­ty and occu­pa­tion­al haz­ards, and cause sig­nif­i­cant pro­duc­tion delays.

FOD con­tain­ment ser­vices are designed to help busi­ness­es iden­ti­fy and remove for­eign objects from facil­i­ties. Work zones will be sep­a­rat­ed by erect­ing bar­ri­ers so things stay where they should be. Doing so pre­vents loose debris from dam­ag­ing any aspect of your facil­i­ty. It can also help pro­tect your work­ers by keep­ing haz­ards away and boost effi­cien­cy by reduc­ing dis­trac­tions on the job.

FOD for­eign object debris con­tain­ment also helps elim­i­nate pos­si­ble down­time. Since there’s no need to stop oper­a­tions, you’re less like­ly to lose pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and revenue.

Facil­i­ties and Projects That Ben­e­fit from Con­tain­ment Ser­vices the Most

Con­tain­ment ser­vices, broad­ly speak­ing, are main­ly used in indus­tries and projects that need con­trolled envi­ron­ments. Facil­i­ties include phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal and biotech facil­i­ties and hos­pi­tal iso­la­tion units.

But for the pur­pos­es of this arti­cle, con­tain­ment can also be used to con­tain for­eign objects, which can cause many issues in sev­er­al facil­i­ties and projects. Here are some facil­i­ties and projects that should con­sid­er FOD containment:

Avi­a­tion Facilities

Loose nails, met­al shav­ings, tools, frag­ments from tires, rocks, ice, and oth­er for­eign object debris may seem harm­less. But the Fed­er­al Avi­a­tion Admin­is­tra­tion (FAA) esti­mates the equip­ment dam­age due to FOD inci­dents to reach $4 bil­lion year­ly. Besides equip­ment dam­age, seri­ous FOD inci­dents can lead to loss of life.

Giv­en the con­se­quences of neglect­ing FOD, it’s safe to say that FOD con­tain­ment ser­vices are a neces­si­ty and not an option in the industry.

For­eign object debris con­tain­ment ser­vices can ben­e­fit avi­a­tion facil­i­ties in var­i­ous ways, including:

• Improv­ing the safe­ty of avi­a­tion oper­a­tions by pre­vent­ing for­eign objects from dam­ag­ing air­craft, engines, and oth­er equipment.

• Reduc­ing the like­li­hood of acci­dents caused by FOD-relat­ed issues, which has led to few­er injuries, fatal­i­ties, and air­craft damage.

• Reduc­ing the cost of main­te­nance and repairs for air­lines and oth­er avi­a­tion orga­ni­za­tions. It does this by pre­vent­ing any expen­sive repairs or replace­ments due to an FOD incident.

• Increas­ing effi­cien­cy and reduc­ing delays in avi­a­tion oper­a­tions. By pre­vent­ing FOD-relat­ed issues, air­lines can main­tain their sched­ules more reli­ably, reduc­ing the amount of time and mon­ey lost due to delays and cancellations.

Over­all, FOD con­tain­ment is a cru­cial fac­tor in improv­ing avi­a­tion oper­a­tions’ safe­ty, reli­a­bil­i­ty, and cost-effectiveness.

Mil­i­tary Facilities

Mil­i­tary facil­i­ties are essen­tial com­po­nents of a coun­try’s defense and secu­ri­ty infra­struc­ture. These facil­i­ties are designed to house and oper­ate a wide range of mil­i­tary assets, includ­ing air­craft, vehi­cles, and weapons. How­ev­er, the oper­a­tion of these assets can also result in gen­er­at­ing a sig­nif­i­cant amount of FOD.

FOD can come in the form of pieces of safe­ty wire, cot­ter pin clip­pings, and tools left behind dur­ing main­te­nance. They can cause cost­ly dam­age to equip­ment, lead to safe­ty haz­ards, and result in down­time for main­te­nance and repairs.

While mil­i­tary facil­i­ties already have mea­sures to pre­vent for­eign object dam­age, there’s still a human fac­tor to con­sid­er. This means mil­i­tary facil­i­ties can ben­e­fit from FOD con­tain­ment services.

For exam­ple, work­ers — mil­i­tary or con­trac­tors, may drop some­thing as sim­ple as a piece of cot­ter pin to the flight con­trol dur­ing main­te­nance. They may over­look or for­get about it, com­pro­mis­ing the air­craft. Sce­nar­ios like this cause mil­lions of dol­lars of dam­age to the equip­ment and some­times even put someone’s life at risk.

FOD con­tain­ment ser­vices can help pre­vent mis­takes asso­ci­at­ed with for­eign objects. Addi­tion­al­ly, main­tain­ing a clean and orga­nized facil­i­ty can improve over­all effi­cien­cy and effectiveness.

Fire­proof­ing Projects

Even in facil­i­ties that do not deal with haz­ardous mate­ri­als or require a clean room envi­ron­ment, FOD con­tain­ment can still be used. One project that can ben­e­fit from said ser­vice is fire­proof­ing.

Fire­proof­ing is nec­es­sary for any estab­lish­ment. Dur­ing the fire­proof­ing process, it is essen­tial to pre­vent for­eign objects from falling onto the floor or any oth­er sur­face, as they can become poten­tial haz­ards for work­ers or equipment.

FOD con­tain­ment involves using bar­ri­ers and cov­ers to pro­tect the area below the fire­proof­ing work from debris or mate­ri­als that may fall dur­ing the process. These bar­ri­ers can be made of var­i­ous mate­ri­als, such as plas­tic sheets or fire-resis­tant tarps. They should be secure­ly fas­tened in place to pre­vent any debris from escaping.

The use of FOD con­tain­ment dur­ing fire­proof­ing projects not only pro­motes safe­ty but also helps main­tain a clean and orga­nized work envi­ron­ment. By con­tain­ing debris and pre­vent­ing it from spread­ing, work­ers can more eas­i­ly clean up the area once the project is complete.

In addi­tion to pro­tect­ing work­ers and equip­ment, FOD con­tain­ment also helps pre­vent dam­age to the build­ing or struc­ture being fire­proofed. Falling debris can cause dents, scratch­es, or even more severe dam­age, lead­ing to cost­ly repairs and delays in the project timeline.

Indus­tri­al Paint­ing and Floor­ing Projects

FOD is a com­mon prob­lem in indus­tri­al paint­ing and floor­ing projects. FOD can include any­thing from dirt and dust to loose bolts and screws. It can cause seri­ous prob­lems if it gets into the paint or coat­ing that is being applied. This is why FOD con­tain­ment is so essen­tial dur­ing projects like these.

Dur­ing Indus­tri­al paint­ing projects, FOD con­tain­ment helps:

• Pre­vent dust, debris, and oth­er con­t­a­m­i­nants from get­ting into the adhe­sive or coat­ing mate­ri­als or set­ting on fresh­ly paint­ed surfaces

• Achieve A Smoother, more even finish

• Pre­vent over­spray and drips from land­ing on floors and equipment.

• Min­i­mize cleanup time for painters.

• Pre­vent poten­tial dam­age to equipment.