Just-in-Time Rigging Keeps a Hospital Running During a Critical Enabling Project

R. Baker & Son received a call from a concerned South Jersey mechanical contractor facing a complex rigging project on a tight deadline. Another rigging contractor had passed on the job late in the game, put off by its timing and complexity. The scope called for relocating several major pieces of mechanical equipment inside a busy, fully operational hospital, including two 150-HP screw air compressors and their associated dryer systems, a medical air and medical vacuum system, and two large water pre-treatment systems.

The challenge: the compressed air and water pre-treatment systems needed to be removed and relocated to the far side of a large mechanical room to make way for a new fire pump and electrical room. This work was an enabling project, clearing space ahead of a major new hospital addition.

Working Around a Live Hospital

Because the hospital couldn't accommodate any disruption to patient care, every relocation had to happen during off-hours, when demand was at its lowest. That meant the work could only take place late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.

None of the equipment could be fully shut down, since every system was fully redundant. That meant moving one system at a time while its counterpart stayed online, continuously supplying clean compressed air, water pre-treatment, and medical gases to the hospital. With only a few hours to work each night, the team needed a precise plan to isolate, disconnect, and remove each redundant unit quickly and move it into position at its new home.

Rigging Route: Skates, a Crane, and a Forklift Through the Louvers

The fastest path out of the mechanical room was to set the equipment on skates and carefully roll it out. From there, an 80-ton hydraulic crane lifted each unit up and over the hospital's central utility plant to the opposite side of the building, feeding it through a set of large fresh-air louvers. On the receiving end, R. Baker & Son used one of its smaller Versa-Lift forklifts to guide the equipment through the louvers with slings and a chain block. Once inside the new mechanical room, each unit was set precisely in place, where waiting crews connected the mechanical and electrical systems within minutes.

The relocations were completed over two consecutive Saturday nights into Sunday mornings. Thanks to extensive pre-planning, the actual disconnect-remove-and-set sequence at each new location was completed within a four-hour window each night, despite extremely tight maneuvering room in a mechanical space that had grown increasingly crowded through years of hospital renovations.

Precision Planning Left Nothing to Chance

R. Baker & Son recommended that the owner have all equipment fully serviced ahead of the move to rule out any performance issues after relocation. Every piece of equipment was match-marked, with rotation direction noted as well. At the new location, each unit's footprint was marked out on the floor in advance, allowing equipment to be set within 1/16 of an inch of its intended position. Nothing was left to chance.

The hospital and R. Baker & Son's client, the mechanical contractor, were pleased that the entire project was completed during early morning hours with no interruption to hospital utility services.

Founded in 1935, R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services is a certified Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) - recognized as the oldest and largest M/WBE-certified demolition contractor in North America. We are your trusted partner for complex industrial and construction projects, specializing in heavy rigging, machinery moving, plant relocation, and expert crane erection, dismantling, and support services across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

With significant bonding capacity and an unmatched safety record backed by extensive involvement in OSHA VPP Star projects, we deliver precision and reliability to every job site. Our comprehensive services include heavy rigging, complex machinery installation and removal, plant relocation, industrial dismantling, and specialized support for high-reach and tower crane operations.

Discover why leading industrial and commercial clients rely on R. Baker & Son for safe, precise solutions to their most demanding heavy rigging and dismantling projects. Learn more about our expertise in industrial rigging and complex plant relocation.