The Challenge

For several years, the company had been renting a pressurised hot work enclosure from a company to use for a month or so at a time when needing to carry out welding work. At the beginning of 2024, after conducting routine NDT (Non-Destructive Testing), cracks in stanchion posts were identified throughout the facility. They were also carrying out extensive upgrades to handrails and thus welding projects were required. With the increased need for a protective, pressurised hot work enclosure, the rental was no longer a viable solution, both financially and for time management reasons.

When reviewing their current processes, the habitat rental took on average 5-10 days to reach the production facility, before being erected at the repair location. Once that project was completed, the pressurised hot work enclosure was dismantled, packaged and shipped back overseas to the rental company. This was costing tens of thousands for each repair and negatively affecting project completion times. Ultimately, this had a knock-on effect for day-to-day production work.

In addition, the client had strict HSEQ guidelines from one of their major operators in attendance and required a system that was verified for use onshore and offshore. Careful consideration of these factors resulted in seeking a long-term solution.

The Solution

Cunninghams Safezone solution – a pressurised hot work enclosure built bespoke to their requirements! After discussing these challenges, the Cunningham team engineered a solution that was not only practical, but fit for purpose specifically in the Australian market.

The Safezone pressurised habitat provides an entire hot work enclosure for use on all live facilities. As this is a fully enclosed solution, there are no requirements for production showdowns. This allows all other plant work to continue whilst the pressurised hot work enclosure is in use, decreasing company downtime and maintaining plant productivity.

The client required a system with full certification for hot work within Australia. Our Safezone system is fully certified to ATEX, IECEx and UKAS and QAN/QAR compliant, allowing its safe use worldwide.

The ATEX certification specifically pertains to the operation of equipment and services in explosive environments and hazardous locations. This is the national certification standard of the European Union and is a mandatory requirement.

Cunningham maintain IECEx 60079-13 certification standards relating to the use of electrical equipment in explosive atmospheres. It provides requirements on the specific design, construction and testing of the electrical components using pressurised enclosures.In addition to the above certifications, Cunninghams are ISO 9001:2015 certified for the design, manufacture, assembly, maintenance and repair of ATEX Safezone Hot Work Habitats. This full offering ensures our dedication to providing tried and tested methods for safeguarding people, plant, assets and production in these dangerous environments.

Successful Pressurised Hot Work Enclosure

Our Safezone expert travelled to Western Australia to train the team first-hand who are responsible for maintenance and repairs. The training was conducted onshore and involved best practice assembly around obstructions and system detection alarms.

Since March 2024, the client has used our Safezone pressurised hot work enclosure for several months and successfully erected the habitat 30 x times for repair projects. With this, the team have successfully carried out welding activities without costly production shutdowns and reduced overall repair times. The habitat is set to be erected a further 40+ times to complete more welding activities. 

As our habitat system is a compact modular solution, allowing for easier and quicker manoeuvring to and from locations. This allows for smooth transitions from one repair project to the next, onshore and offshore. The company has also saved time and money on expensive exported rentals and the need for outsourcing technicians with all their personnel on board now fully trained.