Interview - Phillips General Contracting Ltd.

A FAMILY BUSINESS LIKE NONE OTHER

By Isobel Moss

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Junior Phillips, Co-Founder of Phillips General Contracting Limited (PGCL), about ongoing projects, protecting the environment and the future of their training program.

Phillips General Contracting Limited

(PGCL) is a broad-based family business, set up to cover a comprehensive range of services. Founded in 1987 by Junior Phillips, Heather Phillips, Betty Phillips, and Rhonda Superville, PGCL won its first job in May 1988 with Amoco Maintenance Department, under a contract to perform repairs and services to instruments on Teak Echo Water Flood Offshore Facility. From that first project, a sequence of successful contract bids saw the PGCL continue its upwards momentum, expanding its employee base from within the local community of Mayaro Guayaguayare.

DECADES OF EXPERTISE

In 2019, PGCL was awarded a contract by Massey Wood to execute work on the BP terminal facility. “Our role was to execute electrical and instrumentation services on the crude oil tank,” explains Junior Phillips, Co-Founder of Phillips General Contracting Limited (PGCL). “That initial work was pushed back due to the Covid-19 pandemic, continuing until early January 2021. The pandemic did give us the opportunity to provide alternative services including leak testing and hydrostatic testing to BP’s picking department. Through that work, we contributed to the upkeep of key pipelines, and testing the integrity of the receiver chamber.”

“Electrical and instrumentation has been our core business over the past 34 years,” says Mr. Phillips. “Nevertheless, we’ve also diversified into hydrostatic testing, leak testing, and nitrogen purging, among others. We’ve recently started to do some civil and mechanical works outside of the energy sector, providing services to the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA).”

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UNDER HIGH PRESSURE

Leak testing is an essential element of PGCL’s work. “In particular, our leak testing is an essential service, not only for the efficiency of the plant itself, but in terms of minimizing the environmental impact of our clients,” says Mr. Phillips. “When we carry out break containment repairs, we’re working on broken pipes or vessels. Reinstalling the system in a ready state to re-introduce oil or gas into the system requires us to test the integrity of the bolting of the flanges and the valve areas, which we do using water or nitrogen gas. We follow a similar process for our hydrostatic testing, assessing the integrity of the piping, flanges, walls, and the thickness of the pipes.”

The sustainable impact of such tests cannot be understated. “If these we don’t carry out these works, the impact on the environment would be profoundly negative,” says Mr. Phillips. “Across all our projects we’re dealing with high pressures. Introducing hydrocarbon into these high-pressure environments could easily cause an explosion if there are any unidentified leaks, which would in turn spill out into the environment.

“WE WANTED TO PROVIDE TRAINING DIRECTLY TO OUR STAFF, BRING THEM UP TO SPEED, AND HAVE THEM CERTIFIED.”

If that occurs on the platform, it will pollute the oceans. On the terminal, it will spill into the rivers and streams.”

IN-HOUSE ASSESSMENT

Crucial to PGCL’s success is its in-house training program, which has helped the company to equip its employees with first-rate qualifications in electrical and instrumentation. “At PGCL, we base our entire service provision on quality,” says Mr. Phillips. “We carried out an analysis of our staff in 2010, which revealed that many employees didn’t really have the required qualifications to thrive in the electrical and instrumentation field. In our community on the Trinidad’s south-east, most people don’t have the opportunity to attend either university or an equivalent training institution. To gain access to that luxury, you would need to travel roughly 52 miles. Out of this, PGCL began contemplating the establishment of our own training center right in the heart of the community. We wanted to provide training directly to our staff, bring them up to speed, and have them certified.”

Since the launch of its program, PGCL have sought to partner across the industry to build out its training capacity. “We’ve touched base with a company called the TLA Consultancy,” says Mr. Phillips “Together in 2011, we began building a curriculum across all areas of electrical instrumentation, hydrostatic testing and retesting, with a distinct set of tasks for each category of worker across the organization. We used a local external verifier to assess our employees based on their practical knowledge, and at the end of the assessment the individual is given a certificate, provided through a Canadian company, World ICU. During that assessment, and because the program is computerized, we’re able to identify gaps in the employees’ knowledge. Using a specially designed training matrix, we can identify whether it’s best to refer the individuals to an external organization for specific training, or whether we can meet their needs in-house. It’s been a success, with around 30 of our employees completing the program to-date.”

PGCL intends to continue expanding its training efforts. “The vision is to partner across the oil and gas sector to provide training not only for our staff, but for people throughout our local community,” says Mr. Phillips. “In particular, we’re keen to focus on practical experience. Even when new employees arrive at PGCL having been to university, they have plenty of theoretical skill but lack hands-on skill. We also carry out a lot of calibrations for equipment that measures gas and oil in a pipeline, so we’re looking to have a laboratory up and running, to be accredited by the Bureau of Standards. Otherwise, we hope to continue building on our competency assurance system, introducing that to all our contracting partners.” c