Job description for a rotating equipment supervisor offshore?

Rotating Equipment Supervisor (Offshore) — Job Description

Leads offshore maintenance, reliability, and safe operations of all rotating machinery and auxiliaries, ensuring equipment uptime, integrity, and compliance with PTW and process safety standards.

I. Core Responsibilities

• 1.1 Plan and supervise preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance for rotating assets: gas turbines, compressors, pumps, generators, fans/blowers, gearboxes, diesel engines, mixers, and associated seals/bearings/couplings.
• 1.2 Execute daily work control: job scoping, task allocation, toolbox talks, JSA, permits (hot work, confined space, energy isolation/LOTO), and SIMOPS alignment with production.
• 1.3 Lead troubleshooting using vibration, thermography, ultrasound, lube analysis, and process trends to resolve faults (imbalance, misalignment, resonance, looseness, bearing/seal failures, surge/stall).
• 1.4 Oversee precision maintenance: laser alignment, soft-foot correction, baseplate leveling, pipe strain checks, coupling setup, torque/tensioning, and run-out checks.
• 1.5 Manage major outages/overhauls: scope, parts/kits, vendor mobilization, lift plans, critical path, QA/QC hold points, as-found/as-left documentation, and post-startup performance tests.
• 1.6 Monitor condition and reliability KPIs: vibration overall/FFT, bearing temperatures, lube condition, starts/stops, MTBF/MTTR, availability, PM compliance, and backlog health.
• 1.7 Ensure technical integrity: adherence to OEM specifications, API 610/617/618 practices, torque procedures, flushing/commissioning standards, and barrier management.
• 1.8 Coordinate spares and logistics: critical spares strategy, min/max levels, preservation, consumables, and hazardous material handling offshore.
• 1.9 Lead interface with control room for start/stop sequences, permissives, trip/alarm rationalization, and vibration protection bypass management (MOC).
• 1.10 Mentor technicians, verify competency, conduct on-job training, and assess contractor performance and safety behaviors.
• 1.11 Produce daily reports, failure RCA summaries, punch lists, and handovers; update CMMS work orders, histories, and maintenance strategies.
• 1.12 Enforce safety: gas testing, H2S/benzene awareness, ATEX zoning, dropped-object controls, rigging/lifting standards, scaffolding/access, and emergency response readiness.

II. Required Skills and Physical Demands

II.A Technical Skills

• 2.1 Rotating machinery expertise: installation, alignment, balancing, seal/bearing systems, lube systems, couplings, gearboxes, and machinery protection.
• 2.2 Condition monitoring: route-based and online systems; spectrum analysis, time waveform, phase, and bump tests; acceptance criteria and alarm setting.
• 2.3 Turbomachinery operations: compressor performance maps, surge control logic, turbine/generator start-up and loading procedures, and trip investigations.
• 2.4 Precision maintenance: hydraulic torquing/tensioning, pipe strain relief, soft-foot correction, grouting/shimming, and tolerances per OEM/API.
• 2.5 Reliability/CMMS: failure coding, RCA (5-Why, fishbone), RCM/FMEA inputs, spares criticality, PM optimization, and KPI tracking.
• 2.6 Safety/process: PTW, LOTOTO, SIMOPS, MOC, confined space, hot work, ATEX, and basic process control/DCS interface knowledge.

II.B Soft Skills

• 2.7 Leadership under offshore constraints: clear instruction, risk-based decisions, delegation, and conflict resolution.
• 2.8 Communication: concise shift handovers, contractor coordination, and cross-discipline collaboration with production, electrical, and instrumentation.
• 2.9 Planning and prioritization: balancing emergent work with preventive tasks to protect uptime and POB limits.

II.C Physical Demands and Certifications

• 2.10 Fit for offshore work: climb ladders/stairs, work at heights and in confined spaces, lift up to ~23 kg, stand/walk for extended periods, tolerate noise >85 dBA with hearing protection.
• 2.11 Offshore survival and safety: valid BOSIET/FOET with HUET, H2S, medical fitness; rigging/slinging awareness and forklift/MEWP as required.
• 2.12 Preferred credentials: vibration analyst (ISO 18436-2 Cat II–III), laser alignment/balancing certificates, turbine/compressor OEM courses.

II.D Key Engineering Formulas Reference

• 2.13 Centrifugal pump affinity laws: \(Q \propto N\), \(H \propto N^{2}\), \(P \propto N^{3}\).
• 2.14 Rotor unbalance force: \(F = m \, e \, \omega^{2}\).
• 2.15 Sinusoidal relationships: \(V = \omega X\), \(A = \omega^{2} X\) (displacement \(X\), velocity \(V\), acceleration \(A\)).
• 2.16 Single-DOF critical speed estimate: \(\omega_{n} = \sqrt{\tfrac{k}{m}}\); \(f_{n} = \tfrac{\omega_{n}}{2\pi}\).
• 2.17 Availability: \(A = \tfrac{\text{MTBF}}{\text{MTBF} + \text{MTTR}}\).

III. Typical Tools, Software, and Equipment

III.A Toolchain Snapshot

• 3.1 Condition monitoring: vibration analyzers (e.g., CSI, SKF, Pruftechnik); online racks and software (e.g., machinery protection systems and diagnostic suites); infrared cameras; airborne ultrasound; portable tachometers/strobes.
• 3.2 Alignment/balancing: laser alignment systems; dial indicators; feeler gauges; trim and 2-plane balancing kits; soft-foot and pipe strain measurement tools.
• 3.3 Precision assembly: hydraulic torque wrenches, bolt tensioners, micrometers/calipers, bore gauges, borescopes, lapping tools, seal setting fixtures.
• 3.4 Auxiliaries: oil filtration/flushing skids, heaters/coolers, nitrogen purge panels, seal gas skids, lube consoles.
• 3.5 CMMS and data: SAP PM/Maximo, maintenance analytics dashboards, plant historian trending, digital permits, and electronic shift logs.
• 3.6 Safety: calibrated gas detectors, ATEX-rated portable lights, intrinsically safe comms, lifting gear (certified), and barricading kits.

IV. Work Environment

• 4.1 Location: offshore fixed platform, tension-leg platform, FPSO, or jack-up, typically hydrocarbon-processing areas with ATEX/IECEx zoning.
• 4.2 Rotations: common patterns 14/14, 21/21, or 28/28; 12-hour shifts plus call-out; night-shift coverage as needed during outages.
• 4.3 Conditions: marine weather exposure, motion/vibration (floating assets), high noise, potential H2S/benzene; strict PTW/MOC/SIMOPS controls.
• 4.4 Travel/logistics: helicopter or crew boat; POB limitations; emergency mustering and drills participation.

V. Reporting Lines and Cross-Functional Interfaces

• 5.1 Reports to: Maintenance Superintendent (offshore) or Offshore Installation Manager for daily priorities and compliance.
• 5.2 Direct reports: rotating equipment technicians/mechanics; indirect oversight of vendor/OEM field service personnel.
• 5.3 Key interfaces: Production Supervisor/Control Room (operations coordination), Electrical/Instrumentation Leads (drives, protection, controls), Planning/Scheduling (CMMS, backlog), Materials/Warehouse (spares), Integrity/Inspection (NDT, vibration routes), HSE (permits, audits), and Onshore Rotating Equipment Engineer (technical authority, engineering changes).

Deliverables & Interfaces

• 5.4 Deliverables to management: daily maintenance status, KPI dashboards, outage execution reports, failure RCAs, and risk registers.
• 5.5 Handoffs: updated CMMS histories, signed PTW closure, commissioning/functional test records, red-lined P&IDs/Isometrics, and vibration route reports to reliability/engineering.

VI. Career Ladder

• 6.1 Next-step roles: Senior Rotating Equipment Supervisor (Offshore), Offshore Maintenance Superintendent, Rotating Equipment Engineer (Onshore), Reliability Lead for Machinery.
• 6.2 What’s needed: strong outage delivery record, KPI improvements (availability, MTBF), demonstrated RCA/RCM leadership, CMMS planning proficiency, and advanced diagnostics (vibration Cat III–IV); OEM certifications for prime movers/compressors.
• 6.3 Progression Trigger: typically considered after 18–30 hitches with =5 major outage executions, documented uptime improvement =2–3 percentage points, plus ISO 18436-2 Cat III and successful vendor-led turbine/compressor overhaul certification. [estimated]