SiteFirst Monday back. The line was meant to start at six. By eight it's still stood, because the new conveyor drive won't talk to the PLC. The controls engineer who fitted it went home on Friday.
On the board, the shutdown list still has a third of its jobs open. The gearbox for the mixer came on the Thursday of week two. The bearing change on the spiral got bumped to "next shut". Two of your fitters did eight twelve-hour days in a row, and one of them is off sick.
Nobody thinks it went well. But by October, nobody will remember why.
That's the trap with summer shutdowns. They're planned once a year, so the lessons have a year to fade. Next July someone pulls out last year's list and makes the same mistakes again.
Write it down while it still hurts
The best time to review a shutdown is the first fortnight after it. The pain is fresh, and people will tell you what really happened.
HSE's guide to using contractors makes the same point about any big job. "After the job is finished, there will be benefits in reviewing and learning from any lessons" (INDG368). Its checklist even asks if you've agreed how the job will be reviewed. Most sites never get round to it.
Keep the review short. One hour, with your own team, the planner and the shift managers. Go through the list job by job. For each one, ask what happened, why, and what you'd do differently. Then put each answer straight into next year's plan.
The lessons that come up every year
Every shutdown is different, but the same problems turn up again and again. Here are the ones we'd look for first.
The list started too late. If parts arrived in week two, the list was signed off too late. Long lead items need ordering months ahead, not weeks. Gearboxes, drives, special bearings, anything made to order. Our 12-week shutdown countdown works back from the first day of the shut, and twelve weeks is the minimum.
The list was too long. Every manager adds a few extra jobs. Then the engineering team agrees to them all, because saying no feels like weakness. By week two, the planned jobs that mattered are fighting with the ones that didn't.
Next year, rank the list. Safety-critical work and anything on your most critical machines goes first. Nice-to-haves go last, and get dropped without a row if time runs out.
You couldn't get the people
This is the lesson that hurts most. Every factory in the region shuts in the same few weeks of summer. So every site wants electricians, controls engineers and fitters at the same time.
If you started ringing round in June, you got who was left. Maybe that's why the drive didn't get commissioned properly. Maybe it's why the controls work fell to one person, who then left before restart.
The cost shows up on the first Monday. Every hour the line sits waiting for someone who has gone home is lost output, overtime and late orders. Book your outside engineers when you book your parts. Our guide on booking extra hands for a planned shutdown covers who to book and when.
People worked too long
Shutdowns run on long days. Two weeks of twelve-hour shifts feels normal by day five. It isn't safe.
HSE's guidance on fatigue says accident rates have been found to be higher "after a succession of shifts, when shifts are long and when there are inadequate breaks" (HSE, fatigue). It also says the duty to manage fatigue sits with you as the employer, "irrespective of any individual's willingness to work extra hours". So the fitter who's happy to do the overtime doesn't let you off.
If your team did back-to-back long days, plan for more people next year, not more hours. More on that in fatigue and long shifts.
The restart was an afterthought
Most shutdown plans stop on the last day of work. The restart gets whatever time is left.
After a big shut, machines have been stripped, rebuilt and left idle. Some will need checking before they run. PUWER's code of practice lists "major modifications, refurbishment or repair work" as one of the things that can call for a fresh inspection (L22, paragraph 102). On lifting kit, a long spell out of use can need a thorough examination too (HSE, thorough examinations).
So next year, give the restart its own day. Have the people who did the work still on site when the line starts. Why the first hour back fails goes through what to check.
Keep the bits that worked
A review isn't only for what went wrong. If the permit system ran well, or a contractor was excellent, write that down too. Ask for the same people again, and book them early. A good engineer who already knows your site is worth a lot more than a stranger on day one.
The same goes for the jobs that came in on time. Look at how they were planned. Maybe the parts were on site a week early. Maybe the job had a named owner and a written method. Whatever made those jobs work, copy it onto the ones that didn't.
And keep the photos, the readings and the notes from the shut. Next year's planner will want to know what the gearbox looked like inside, and what the alignment read when it went back together.
What to do on Monday
- Book one hour with your team and go through the shutdown list job by job. Write down what went wrong and why.
- Move every job that didn't get done onto next year's list, or into a smaller shut before then.
- Note every outside engineer you used, and who you'd have back. Pencil them in for next summer now.
- Put next year's shutdown dates in the diary, and set the list sign-off for at least 12 weeks before.
* Paragraph numbers refer to L22, fourth edition (2014, amended 2018), correct as of 4 September 2026. Check HSE's L22 page, HSE's fatigue guidance and INDG368 for the latest.