This content was created for and originally published in the May/June 2026 issue of BIC Magazine.

Turnarounds change the risk profile of a facility in a matter of days by dictating who is on site, where they are, and what kind of work is being done. Headcounts increase, and the proximity to hazards often changes. Maintenance, inspections and modifications that aren’t a normal part of operations begin. That means a certain amount of temporary infrastructure will be brought in, all coordinated based on logistics and available space. These events happen on a deadline, so the margin for error becomes a factor. Turnarounds are notably one of the highest-risk periods for work on an oil and gas facility.

Turnarounds change everything about how a facility operates. Headcount increases, work scopes overlap, and activities that are normally separated in time or space are compressed into a narrow window. The result is a higher concentration of people working in areas where hazard conditions are also changing.

This article was originally published in the May/June 2021 issue of BIC Magazine. It is republished here in its entirety and includes an opportunity to schedule a meeting with the writer.

As the petrochemical industry returns to a regular maintenance cycle after the cutbacks of 2009 and 2010, turnaround planning is ramping up nationwide. Now that the use of office trailers is declining in blast zones, demand for blast-resistant buildings (BRBs) is headed for an all-time high. At RedGuard, we’ve been aggressively increasing our inventory of lease unit BRBs in anticipation of this upswing. Still, nationwide demand is expected to exceed supply, so this should be one of the first calls made by turnaround planners, if they hope to maximize all the benefits of work site blast protection.