Controls Commissioning (FAT/SAT) Checklist

It's built to work across three plant types I see most: aggregate (crushing, screening, conveying), material recovery facilities (MRF) with their sort lines and balers, and organics / anaerobic digestion (AD) with biogas handling. Print it, mark it up, sign it. A commissioning record that lives only in your head is worth nothing at the next turnover.

Two rules before anything else. First: you prove an interlock by making it trip, not by talking yourself past it. If a protective interlock is in your way during commissioning, you fix the logic or the setpoint, you don't jumper it out to "get through the day." Second: every force, every temporary jumper, every defeated guard gets written on the force log and removed before handover. A single forgotten force has hurt more people than any software bug.

Header note: gas safety and LOTO (read before the hands-on sections) Organics / AD plants: digesters, gas holders, sumps, pump vaults, and wet wells are permit-required confined spaces. Do not enter or open one on the strength of "it smells fine." Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) kills fast and deadens your sense of smell around ~100 ppm, which is also roughly the IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health). Methane (CH4) is explosive from about 5% by volume (Lower Explosive Limit, LEL) up to about 15% (Upper Explosive Limit, UEL). Atmospheric-test before entry and wear a bump-tested personal 4-gas monitor (H2S, LEL, O2, CO). Biogas areas are typically Class I Div 1 or Div 2 (or Zone 0/1/2) under NEC 500/505 — your test gear, lights, and any temporary tooling in those areas must be rated for it. That includes the meter you're using to megger or the laptop you're not supposed to have in there. All plant types: any hands-on work on rotating equipment (conveyors, crushers, screens, augers, mixers, balers, grinders) requires a verified zero-energy state — Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) applied and tested-for-dead — before you put a hand on it. Commissioning is exactly when a drive spins that