February 2017 Vol. 5 Issue 1 THE LATEST ON UNITED PIPING INC. ACTIVITIES New President Mel Olson leads the first of many company Town Hall meetings. Town Hall Kickoff February 7 marked the first time Mel Olson, player is. President of UPI, held a Town Hall meeting This was yet another step that UPI has IN THIS ISSUE in the Duluth office Warehouse. Over 40 taken in staying true to its Values, Mission, employees attended from the Fab Shop, and Vision. “We demand open and honest MEL’S MESSAGE 2 Maintenance Shop, Warehouse, and office. A communication from everyone” is one of the few people joined over Skype and conference Mission statements, and this event proved that SAFETY CORNER 3 call-in options. those are not just words on a pretty poster; Everyone was invited to send in their questions they’re words we live by. UPI leadership is PROJECT UPDATE 4 ahead of time with no need to disclose their willing to listen and will keep creating safe opportunities for people to voice their thoughts EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHTS 8 names. The goal was to let employees ask any and all questions without holding back. and questions without fear. EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION 9 After Mel addressed all sent-in questions he A Town Hall with Mel will take place every proceeded to answer questions from those month and will be SAVE THE DATES 9 who were in attendance. The subjects ranged available for remote from plans to expand UPI work in the Chicago participation. See page 9 for PEOPLE ON THE MOVE 10 and Mount Pleasant regions, to why we are Please send in the next Town Hall not pursuing piping work outside of the oil and your questions to GIVING BACK 11 and other important gas industry, to maintaining relationships with Meerim.Miland@ dates. clients and Mel’s role as a leader. No topic was EMPLOYEE DISCOUNTS 12 unitedpiping.us at untouched — even who the best UPI cribbage any time. MEL’S MESSAGE SAFETY CORNER By Mike Villa “We have integrity. We treat people with respect. We care about those we work with and their families …” The last few months have certainly been project and Williams Partners Atlantic Sunrise memorable on a number of different fronts. project puts these very large projects in play Annual Safety Day Situational Awareness Training for Duluth Office Our last newsletter was dedicated to Bob’s big for construction for 2017. We remain cautiously This year we held two Annual Safety In January, an officer from the Duluth Police department put on a Situational Awareness and announcement. I truly can’t say enough about optimistic that other oil and gas pipeline Days – one in Morris, IL and one in Duluth, Active Shooter class. This was not the result of anyone feeling unsafe at work, but rather aligned what a pleasure it has been to work under projects will continue to be on the upswing in MN. Both days went well, over 250 with UPI’s value of caring. We care about our employees on and off the job. The officer discussed Bob’s leadership and call him a friend. It is a this new political environment. employees attended in all. The Safety Day tips for staying safe whether at the mall, walking downtown, at home, or at work. Thanks to those great honor to be trusted in this new role and a We will have an expanded headquarters soon! in Morris was held in December in order to that attended this informative and valuable class. responsibility I take seriously! Over the next month or so, we will be finalizing accommodate a busy start to the year for Organizational Changes an agreement to move our warehouse and our crews working for BP. Duluth’s Safety Day was held in early January. Guest In conjunction with the change in the President maintenance operations to the old Rockwell speakers in Duluth included Sgt. Mark DEWALT Visits the Fab Shop role, Josh Purrenhage and Cass Christiansen building across from our main office on Venture Avenue. Baker, Ross Bernstein, Mark Breslin, and moved into Vice President roles. Josh In November, two members from the DeWalt research and development (R&D) team visited the a few safety professionals from Enbridge. transitioned to the Vice President – Operations Bidding Opportunities fab shop in order to receive feedback as to how to keep their tools safe, yet more effective and Thanks to everyone involved for making our and will oversee UPI’s core operations and user friendly. Specifically, they solicited feedback on grinder guards from our pipefitters and We have made progress on the Enbridge Safety Days a success! projects run out of the headquarters location in Facilities PCA that covers the mid-continent welders. DeWalt also demonstrated some new tools and invited a couple UPI employees to their Duluth, MN. Cass is the Vice President – Great region and we look forward to the potential R&D facility in Delaware. Lakes Region and will oversee operations and opportunities that will provide. We have projects run out of our Chicago Region office, had some discussions with Spectra (Nexus) Safety Committee Mount Pleasant, MI office, Cathodic Division, regarding some of the proposals we submitted as well as any new growth opportunities recently and are hopeful they may lead to Update whether that be a new service line or new further discussions. Various BP, Buckeye, The revised Safety Committee met on geographic area. I feel privileged to work with Wolverine, and TCPL opportunities have both of these professionals and my confidence also been coming in. More to come on them January 31, and now consists of Erik is high in their leadership as we look forward to in the future. These are all exciting new Schoneberger, Jim Pyrlik, Justin Hultquist, continued growth and success. opportunities! Rich Olson, Jerry Lueneburg, Mike Villa, Scott Hepokoski, Shawn Helmer, Scott Additionally, Meerim Miland has accepted a Safety promotion as Executive Assistant. Meerim will Maki, and TJ Lillo. These participants be a shared resource between Cass, Josh, and We had a recordable injury (hand injury) very represent a diverse cross-section of our early in the year. Safety has and always will be Each Town Hall with Mel is myself with the primary goal to help the three organization. The revisions include a the only thing. We can and have to do better. of us stay efficient and organized with our diverse membership, soliciting agenda recorded. Please, email Meerim Always be aware of your surroundings. Look schedules. topics from the field two weeks prior to Miland at meerim.miland@ after your brothers and sisters out there. Care! Operations Update the meeting, and distributing meeting unitedpiping.us to request a link Values We have a number of projects and crews minutes companywide. During the meeting, to the video. currently working. The Pole Line project at the Lastly, don’t forget our commitment to our the committee discusses incidents, safety If you have questions for Mel or Superior Terminal is cruising right along. The values and our value-driven culture. We have opportunities with action items, and other integrity. We treat people with respect. We would like him to address certain EFRD project in Illinois is in full swing. We items that are brought forth from leadership still have a couple of crews active on BP work care about those we work with and their and the field. During the first meeting, matters during the next Town and expect that crew count to ramp back up in families, our contractor and client teammates, discussed topics were safety opportunities, and those that live in the communities across Hall, you can submit them to your the next month or so. Clay’s Cathodic Division winter working conditions, Enbridge’s Cargo the country that we work in. BE this everyday! Foreman/Superintendent/Project is killing it and working on what I can call a Management Guidelines, and the Duluth Manager or email Meerim Miland at tremendous amount of work for 2017. Seriously, thank you for all you do! office location Emergency and Protestor the provided address. We look forward to continued work under the Response Plan. For a copy of the minutes Enbridge Dig PCA which will hopefully ramp up or to submit a topic to be discussed during after road restrictions are complete this spring. the next Safety Committee meeting, contact Recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Mike Villa ([email protected]) or (FERC) rulings on the Energy Transfer Rover Mel Olson your supervisor. 2 February 2017 Vol. 5 Issue 1 3 PROJECT UPDATES CMT Crews BP East Fort Madison / Niota Cushing Valve Station Valve Replacements By Paul Bertie & Brandon Johnson Swap Out Mike Elliott and his crew (in 2016) and John By Mike Klugman The Chicago Region’s crews have been busy assisting BP’s Construction Maintenance Team Mitchell and his crew (in 2017) completed the (CMT) on a variety of projects. In addition to completing over 80 integrity digs, there have been removal and replacement of six 16” MOVs at a a few capital projects. Our crews completed a 36” valve installation critical pump station along a BP crude pipeline. for TransCanada last November in Cushing, Most of the existing valves were 300# but Oklahoma. The scope of work was to assist were being upgraded to 600#, which required TransCanada operations in preparing and cutting them out and fabricating new flange executing the plan to install a new valve. connections. The project presented several Additionally, we were responsible for painting challenges, including an unknown concrete- the valve, discharging/injecting the product in encased duct bank that was encountered and out of the lines, and removing/installing during excavation and an old drain line that the valve.