The Commissioning Risk Drift

Many infrastructure projects appear successful when handed over. The plant is switched on, the project team leaves, and everything appears complete. But weeks or months later, problems often start — unstable systems, constant alarms, and a slow, difficult ramp-up. These problems are usually blamed on operations or dismissed as “teething issues.” In many cases, they are the delayed result of rushed commissioning at the end of the project. When schedules slip, commissioning time is squeezed. Testing is shortened, temporary fixes are used, and systems are only checked under limited conditions. When the project ends, the people who understand these compromises leave. Once the plant faces real operating conditions, those hidden issues surface. Operations is left managing problems it did not create. This paper calls this pattern Commissioning Risk Drift — a governance problem, not a technical one.