Marine Electrical Installation SOP
A marine electrical installation SOP for Scanel: engineering review, material verification, work preparation, hands-on installation, a workmanship inspection gate, de-energized checks, documentation and handover to commissioning.
What the marine electrical installation SOP process is
Not every job Scanel runs is a turnkey project. Most of the time a customer, a ship's engineer, a yard, an operator, has already decided exactly what electrical work they want done: run this cabling, fit this panel, install this equipment, and Scanel's job is to do it, not to scope it. This chart is that base-level sequence, and it starts from "Project scope received" rather than from a blank requirements-gathering step, because by the time this SOP applies, the scope is already fixed. "Engineering review of scope and installation drawings" comes next and not later, because on a vessel or an offshore site there usually isn't a second chance to catch a drawing error once cable is run and terminated in a confined space; and "Verify materials and equipment against specification" happens before a single tool comes out, because marine-grade cable, connectors and enclosures are frequently long-lead items with no equivalent on a supply-boat run or a dockside hardware store, and discovering a wrong gland size mid-installation costs a day nobody has.
The two decision points in this chart exist because a base-level installation SOP still has to catch its own two failure modes before they become someone else's problem downstream. "Materials and equipment match specification?" is a planning-desk-adjacent check: a mismatch routes to "Flag discrepancy, source correct materials or equipment" and back through verification once the right item is in hand, rather than letting a field electrician install a close-enough substitute under schedule pressure. "Installation passes inspection?" is the same discipline applied to the finished work itself: a fail routes to "Correct installation defects" and back through inspection again, because a workmanship problem, a wrong support interval, a mislabeled panel, a badly formed termination, found now, while the crew and their tools are still on site, is a same-day fix; found later, during commissioning or in service, it's a callback.
This SOP is deliberately narrow about what it owns on either side of it. If the scope during installation turns out to touch a high-voltage system or EEx-certified equipment, those parts of the job branch out to the High-Voltage Electrical Work SOP or the ATEX / EEx Equipment Service SOP, which carry stricter gates this chart doesn't duplicate; if the customer never actually scoped the work and wants Scanel to own requirements through closeout instead, that's the Turnkey Marine Electrical Project SOP, not this one. And on the far side of "Hand over installation to customer for commissioning", this chart's own "Perform de-energized verification checks: torque, labeling, phase sequence and physical security" stays mechanical and visual on purpose, because the continuity and insulation-resistance testing, and the hard energization-approval gate that follows it, belong to Electrical System Commissioning SOP, which is written to start exactly where this one ends. Every row also carries a named owner and an hours figure through the built-in People and Workload columns, so the workload BI panel can show Jonas Whitmore and Maria Solano's field hours clustering across "Installation" while Ida Marsh's hours, lighter individually, run from intake through handover instead of bunching in one lane.
What this flowchart covers
In this template
- Intake and engineering sign-off, from "Project scope received" through "Engineering review of scope and installation drawings", so a job is checked against real drawings before a single item is verified on site
- The material-verification gate: "Verify materials and equipment against specification" feeding the "Materials and equipment match specification?" decision, which branches to "Flag discrepancy, source correct materials or equipment" on any mismatch
- Work preparation and hands-on installation in the "Field Electrical" lane: "Work preparation: method statement, permits, tools and PPE" and "Install cabling, panels and equipment per drawings"
- The workmanship inspection gate: "Inspect installation for workmanship and compliance" feeding the "Installation passes inspection?" decision, which routes a fail to "Correct installation defects" and back through inspection rather than into de-energized checks on an assumption
- De-energized verification and closeout: "Perform de-energized verification checks: torque, labeling, phase sequence and physical security", "Compile as-built documentation and test records", and "Hand over installation to customer for commissioning"
- Named owners and hours on every row via the People and Workload columns, so the workload BI panel can show Jonas Whitmore and Maria Solano's field hours clustering across "Installation" while Ida Marsh's hours run from intake through handover
When to use this template
- You've been given a defined scope of marine or offshore electrical work, not a full turnkey project, and need the handoffs between engineering, field electrical and QA fixed on one chart instead of living in one supervisor's head
- A delivered item doesn't match the drawings or the purchase order and you want a documented decision point instead of a field call to substitute something close enough
- You're onboarding a new field electrician or QA inspector and need a reference for exactly which checks happen before installation starts and which happen before it's handed over
- An installation failed its workmanship inspection and you want a record of what was found, who corrected it, and that it was re-inspected rather than passed on an assumption
- You're scoping a job against Scanel's other SOPs and need to confirm this one applies: a full turnkey build starts from the Turnkey Marine Electrical Project SOP, and a new or changed design starts from the Electrical Engineering & Design Change SOP
How it works
Replace the lanes with your actual installation roles
This chart uses ServiceDesk, Engineering, Field Electrical, QA / Inspection and Project Manager. If your team splits material verification from procurement itself, or splits workmanship inspection from a separate QA sign-off, give that role its own lane rather than folding it into Field Electrical.
Put your own acceptance criteria on the materials-verification gate
"Materials and equipment match specification?" needs the actual ratings, sizes and certificates your drawings call for, not just "looks about right". Write the accepted specification directly into the row's comment field so the person checking the delivery isn't relying on memory.
Name who has the authority to reject a failed inspection
"Installation passes inspection?" is the gate that decides whether work moves toward handover or back into correction. Attach a named QA role, not just a title, so there's no ambiguity about who can send installed work back to "Correct installation defects" instead of letting it through under schedule pressure.
Set People and Workload on every row before you rely on the BI panel
The workload panel can only total hours for rows that carry them. Fill in People and Workload for each step as you adapt the chart, using realistic effort hours rather than elapsed time, so a busy installation week actually shows up as a busy week for the right person.
Decide where this SOP hands off to a more specialized one
If the scope turns out to include high-voltage systems, EEx-certified equipment, or grows into a full turnkey build, this chart isn't where those rules live. Note the handoff directly on "Install cabling, panels and equipment per drawings" or earlier, rather than letting a technician discover the scope has changed mid-job.
Frequently asked questions
What triggers the start of the marine electrical installation process?
The process starts at "Project scope received": the customer has already ordered a defined piece of electrical work, for a vessel or an onshore or offshore site. This SOP doesn't cover scoping the work itself, that happens upstream in sales or in the Electrical Engineering & Design Change SOP if a design is involved, only doing it once the scope exists.
What happens if delivered materials don't match the specification?
The "Materials and equipment match specification?" decision routes a mismatch to "Flag discrepancy, source correct materials or equipment" before work preparation begins. Catching a wrong cable rating or a substituted connector here, before it's fitted, is deliberately earlier than catching it during installation, where undoing the work costs far more than sourcing the right item did.
What happens if the installation fails its workmanship inspection?
"Installation passes inspection?" routes a fail to "Correct installation defects" and back through inspection again, rather than into de-energized checks on an inspector's assumption that it will probably pass next time. The loop repeats until the work actually clears.
How is the inspection in this SOP different from the inspection in Electrical System Commissioning SOP?
This chart's "Inspect installation for workmanship and compliance" is an internal QA sign-off that the install was done to the reviewed drawings, terminations, support, labeling, IP ratings, closed out while the installing crew is still on the job. Electrical System Commissioning SOP runs its own visual inspection later, immediately before energization, because time may have passed and conditions can have changed between the two.
When should I use this SOP instead of the Turnkey Marine Electrical Project SOP?
Use this one when the customer has already ordered a defined scope of electrical work and Scanel is doing that scope. Use the turnkey SOP when the customer states a requirement once and Scanel owns everything from engineering and procurement through installation, commissioning and closeout, including the installation sequence this chart describes, as phases of a single larger project.
Where this process fits
In most operations this process follows Electrical Engineering & Design Change SOP and hands off to Electrical Inspection & Testing SOP.
It is one step in Marine electrical.
Step 1: Offshore / Wind Project Mobilization SOP
An offshore and wind project mobilization SOP for Scanel: a hard GWO and offshore safety certification gate, equipment and travel logistics, site safety induction, work execution and a demobilization test-result gate.
Step 2: Marine Electrical Installation SOP You are here
A marine electrical installation SOP for Scanel: engineering review, material verification, work preparation, hands-on installation, a workmanship inspection gate, de-energized checks, documentation and handover to commissioning.
Step 3: Electrical Inspection & Testing SOP
An electrical inspection and testing SOP for Scanel: identifying the installation, defining which tests actually apply, safety preparation, performing the tests, assessing results, and issuing an archived report, with no other job attached.