COSMO SPECIALTY FIBERS MAINTENANCE

Greenberry Industrial is proud to have worked for over five years and over 500,000 hours with zero recordable injuries at Cosmo Specialty Fibers in Cosmopolis, Washington.

Greenberry was contracted by Cosmo Specialty Fibers in 2011, when the paper mill was recommissioned, to provide maintenance services. Greenberry has served as a full service maintenance group operating lubrication, vibration technicians, yard crew/carpenters, mobile equipment mechanics, millwrights, pipefitter/welders, and planners.

The facility, previously owned by Weyerhaeuser Corp. in Cosmopolis, Washington, was completely shut down in 2005. In 2010, the facility was purchased by a large private investor group with the intent of restarting and operating the facility by mid-2011. The former Weyerhaeuser Specialty Cellulose Mill was in very poor condition, and there were virtually no maintenance records available, and no existing mill personnel to talk to. Greenberry was not only tasked with being the prime general contractor for the project, but also taking the role of safety management for the entire facility, establishing safety policies, training programs, and implementation.

Greenberry is in the mill alongside Cosmo staff on a daily basis, working with chemicals, steam, vehicle traffic, and running equipment. From the onset of our maintenance contract, Greenberry’s maintenance team has been an active team member with Cosmo management in creating a safe work place not only for our contracted maintenance crew, but for the whole facility as well. We have done this consistently, working within hazardous mill conditions for over five years.

Greenberry has been instrumental in identifying potential hazards around the aging mill. The location of the mill near the Washington coastline introduces rust and corrosion repairs that must be maintained. We have been instrumental in diagnosing and replacing defective catwalks, guards, and handrails, thereby improving the safety throughout the mill.

Currently, Greenberry has served on-site at Cosmo Specialty Fibers location and has operated for five years with no recordable or lost time injuries. This safety milestone was celebrated by both Greenberry and Cosmo teams at an event in August 2016.

After our initial work to recommission and bring the mill back to full service, Greenberry now works daily, side-by-side with Cosmo, to continuously maintain the aging equipment. We repair and manage the moving parts throughout a hazardous environment. As with any fully integrated, maintenance organization, unplanned equipment downtime is a fact of life. Repair work is identified on a daily basis, prioritized, and assigned to the respective area mechanics. Emergency repair work poses the greatest hazard because planning time is compressed and safety variables are higher given the severity of the breakdown or complexity of the equipment.

Although Greenberry has extensive experience working in aging pulp and paper mills across the Northwest, Cosmo Specialty Fibers is one of the few sulfite pulp mills in the world. This mill creates its own bisulfite cooking acid by burning raw sulphur and mixing it with water and then adding magnesium bisulfite. The acid plant, sulphur burners, cooling liquor recovery chemicals, and process are unique to Cosmo Specialty Fibers and to the dissolving pulp industry. The release of SO2 during the pulping process is frequent and the entire maintenance team must utilize extra precautions at all times to avoid exposure to this corrosive gas.

Read the original news announcement here.

• Five years and over 500,000 hrs with zero recordable injuries
• Cosmo Specialty Fibers is one of the few sulfite pulp mills in the world
• Extensive experience working in aging pulp and paper mills
• The acid plant, sulphur burners and cooling liquor recovery chemicals and process are unique to Cosmo Specialty Fibers
• The entire maintenance team utilizes extra precautions at all times to avoid exposure to the release of SO2 during the pulping process