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Maintenance Technician (Electrical & Instrumentation bias)
Position Overview
The Maintenance Technician (Electrical & Instrumentation Bias) is responsible for supporting the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of site plant and equipment within a high-hazard chemical manufacturing environment.
The role provides electrical, instrumentation, and control systems expertise across planned and corrective maintenance activities, while supporting mechanical maintenance tasks within agreed competency limits. The postholder will troubleshoot equipment failures, maintain accurate records, and contribute to reliability, compliance, and continuous improvement objectives in line with site procedures and applicable regulatory requirements, including COMAH, PUWER, DSEAR, ATEX, the Electricity at Work Regulations, and the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations.
Job Responsibilities
Maintenance & Repair
- Carry out planned preventive maintenance, inspection, calibration, testing, and corrective maintenance on electrical, instrumentation, control, and automation systems.
- Diagnose and rectify faults on motors, drives, control panels, instrumentation loops, transmitters, sensors, actuated valves, safety systems, and associated field devices in a safe and timely manner.
- Support mechanical maintenance activities within competency, including basic inspection, first-line fault finding, equipment condition checks, and assistance with repairs where required.
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Ensure work is completed in accordance with site safety procedures, permit-to-work requirements, electrical isolation standards, lockout-tagout requirements, and applicable UK legislation.
Plant Operation Support
- Respond promptly to breakdowns, control system faults, instrument failures, trips, alarms, and process interruptions.
- Support operations teams during safe start-up, shutdown, testing, recommissioning, and commissioning of plant equipment, instrumentation, and control systems.
- Participate in root cause analysis for recurring electrical, instrumentation, control, and equipment failures.
Compliance & Documentation
- Ensure maintenance activities comply with COMAH, DSEAR, ATEX, Electricity at Work Regulations, PUWER, and site electrical safety requirements.
- Complete accurate maintenance, calibration, inspection, and test records in the site CMMS.
- Support statutory inspections, hazardous area compliance activities, instrument proof testing, audits, and insurance-related requirements.
Continuous Improvement
- Identify and support reliability improvements for electrical, instrumentation, automation, and wider plant equipment.
- Participate in improvement projects, shutdowns, turnarounds, equipment upgrades, control system modifications, and instrument rationalisation activities.
- Contribute to the development and review of maintenance procedures, calibration routines, SOPs, electrical standards, and safe systems of work.
Teamwork & Communication
- Work collaboratively with operations, engineering, contractors, mechanical technicians, and technical teams.
- Provide technical support and mentoring to apprentices and less experienced technicians on electrical, instrumentation, and control systems topics, where appropriate.
- Attend toolbox talks, shift handovers, and team meetings as required, ensuring effective communication of maintenance status, risks, and follow-up actions.
Local specific requirements for the role
- Ability to work safely on a COMAH upper-tier chemical manufacturing site involving hazardous substances, pressurised systems, hazardous area equipment, and high-risk energy sources.
- Participation in the applicable shift pattern and on-call rota, as required by site arrangements.
- Competent use of site permit systems, including permit to work, confined space, hot work, process and electrical isolations, first breaks, and lockout-tagout.
- Ability to wear all required PPE, including respiratory protection where required and subject to face-fit requirements.
- Knowledge of site utilities, plant electrical distribution, instrument air, control systems, alarms, trips, and safety-related devices.
- Experience working with process equipment and associated electrical and instrumentation systems, including reactors, agitator drives, heat exchangers, temperature control loops, storage tanks, level instrumentation, overfill protection, transfer systems, pumps, motor starters, variable speed drives, boilers, burner controls, pressure instrumentation, safety interlocks, sensors, analysers, and control loops.
Functional Competencies
Electrical & Instrumentation Competencies
- Competent in electrical fault finding, inspection, testing, and maintenance of industrial plant equipment.
- Able to read and interpret electrical drawings, loop diagrams, cause and effect charts, P&IDs, and control schematics.
- Experienced in maintenance and fault finding on motors, starters, variable speed drives, control panels, sensors, switches, transmitters, actuated valves, solenoids, and field instrumentation.
- Skilled in calibration, loop checking, proof testing, and functional testing of pressure, flow, level, temperature, analytical, and safety-related instrumentation.
- Understands hazardous area equipment, Ex inspection requirements, DSEAR/ATEX expectations, and associated maintenance controls.
- Applies electrical isolations, safe systems of work, test-before-touch principles, and lockout-tagout requirements effectively.
- Maintains working knowledge of PLC, DCS, SCADA, alarm, trip, and interlock systems, supporting fault diagnosis within site authorisation limits.
Mechanical Support Competencies
- Maintains practical mechanical awareness of pumps, vessels, pipework, valves, rotating equipment, and mechanical seals.
- Supports mechanical technicians with equipment inspections, first-line fault finding, safe isolation, and recommissioning activities within competency limits.
- Understands pressure systems and the interface between mechanical assets and electrical/instrumentation controls.
Safety & Compliance
- Demonstrates strong understanding of process safety, including COMAH, DSEAR, ATEX, and electrical safety requirements.
- Applies knowledge of the Electricity at Work Regulations, PUWER, COSHH, hazardous area controls, and permit-to-work systems.
- Uses effective hazard identification, risk assessment, energy isolation, and electrical testing safety practices.
Other Competencies
- Competent in the use of the site CMMS, including SAP where applicable.
- Strong problem-solving, diagnostic, and analytical skills.
- Able to work independently and collaboratively as part of a cross-functional team.
- Communicates clearly and professionally with operations, engineering, maintenance, contractors, and support functions.
Education & Experience
Essential
- Time-served electrical, instrumentation, control systems, or E&I apprenticeship, or equivalent NVQ Level 3 qualification.
- Demonstrable experience as a maintenance technician in a chemical, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, or comparable heavy industry environment.
- Strong electrical and instrumentation skill base, with practical mechanical awareness and the ability to support mechanical maintenance activities within competency limits.
- Experience working with hazardous area equipment, regulated environments, permit-to-work systems, and safe isolation practices.
Desirable
- HNC/HND or equivalent qualification in Electrical Engineering, Instrumentation & Control, Process Control, Automation, or a related E&I discipline.
- CompEx EX01-EX04 competence, 18th Edition wiring regulations, inspection and testing, PLC/DCS/SCADA familiarity, MEWP, forklift, or scaffold awareness qualifications.
- Experience with boiler controls, burner management systems, safety interlocks, and associated pressure, temperature, and analytical instrumentation.
- Experience writing or supporting permits and developing isolation plans.
- Experience supporting training, coaching, or mentoring of apprentices or less experienced technicians.
The role requires regular plant-based work, including electrical and instrumentation fault finding, diagnostic analysis, calibration, inspection, testing, and some manual activity. The postholder must be able to work safely in operational plant areas, follow defined safe systems of work, and maintain concentration when completing safety-critical tasks.
Disclaimer: We are not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms/employment agencies for this employment opportunity. Please, no phone calls or emails to an employee about this position. All resumes submitted by search firms/employment agencies to any employee of the Company via email, the Internet or in any other form and/or method without a valid written search firm agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of the Company; no fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by the Company as a result of the unsolicited referral or through other means.
