Inspector Frank: About the Author

There is an interesting phenomenon that I have seen on the rise; for lack of a better word, let’s call them witch hunts that occur after an incident or event.

In the integrity world, good quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) should not be sacrificed when it’s time to cut costs.

After Inspector Frank's article discussing subject matter experts, he got to thinking more about how he, and others, have gone through various career paths.

We no longer exist in a work environment where employees stay in positions for their whole careers. The ability to have a flexible workforce is critical.

The article urges promoting technical careers, encouraging mentorship, and local involvement to inspire youth in science and engineering.

This edition takes a deeper look at the price paid within our industry when there is more rhetoric than solutions.

Can individual personnel be at fault for an incident? Is it an issue with the systems in place? Or does the assignment of blame come down to convenience?

Fatigue is interesting as a failure mechanism for many reasons. First off, it accounts for roughly 80% of industrial failures. Think about that for a second.

There is the official company culture, which is based on procedures, mission statements, corporate goals, etc. But there is another significant and sometimes governing source of culture that is unofficial.

Reorganizations can have a beneficial effect on how an organization operates, but they can also be detrimental. It can break up existing teams that are functioning well and it can take a long time to rebuild those teams into cohesive work groups.

People in most companies are supposedly promoted on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement as measured through examination/certification/education and demonstrated effectiveness. So why do I not see this as the actual effect in many companies?

Engaged people are so much more enjoyable to work with. However, it can have some problems, especially with junior engineers/inspection types.

What happens when there are programs no one wants to own and people avoid taking responsibility for them? It is important that people have an understanding of their responsibilities and the accountabilities of the program.

There are still lessons to be learned 48 years after the failure of the cyclohexane plant that led to the explosion that occurred on Saturday, June 1, 1974.

Since the pandemic, we have seen stories about the “changing face” of work – work cultures are evolving, flexible working conditions are the new expectation, and the balance of bargaining power has shifted from employers to the employees.

When preparing an article, a report, a presentation, or a paper, it is important to know who your audience is and to adjust your writing accordingly.

The article discusses how allowing ‘normalization of deviance’ to occur in the workplace raises our organizations’ risk threshold in an uncontrolled and unmanaged way.

We live in a world of metrics and key performance indicators. This isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it is vitally important. Good PSM requires accurate and complete metrics in order to ensure the systems are working the way they should.

Like many processes, root cause analyses are only as good as the information being used. If critical data about the failure mechanism is lost during repairs, then this information will be unknown to the group trying to determine the root cause(s).

When you are dealing with an inspection technique that is poorly understood and a company representative that is downright combative, you get a perfect storm that can quickly lead to that particular technique losing its credibility.

Tyler Alvarado inspired people to try and be more engaged in their work and in their lives. To be passionate. He was the main reason this series of articles exist, because he inspired and challenged me to write them.

Tired of wasting precious time in meetings? Inspector Frank discusses the reasons why useless meetings occur while offering a military-inspired approach for determining when a meeting is needed and how to hold ones that are efficient and effective.

Who is Inspector Frank? It is a valid question but I don’t want it answered specifically for some obvious reasons. I will share what I can though...

Trying too hard to bring attention to the myriad concerns of a robust equipment integrity program can end up backfiring on you. You don’t want to be the “inspector who cried wolf” with no one listening when you actually have a problem.

Bad data is the bane of equipment integrity — and I don’t just mean test data that is questionable. As a quick exercise, consider some of the key data issues you have encountered. Do any of the following ring a bell?

In a nutshell, Schwerpunkt means focusing your force in the area it will be the most effective. As a strategy, it means overall strategic intent has to be known and understood by everyone. All levels know their part in the plan.

I once worked with a chief inspector who refused to hire anyone who had any National Board inspection certifications. “Why?”, you might ask. I had the same question, and his response was “Because anyone with National Board is gunning for my...

Critical things often get missed in facilities but are these things being owned and fixed? We get good at reactively solving problems as they appear, but are we proactively working towards examining and fixing the potential larger issues?

Just because you have a technical expert does not mean they will be an expert at managing people. Like any skill set, it takes training, time, and mentoring to become a good personnel manager.

This is the first article in a new column. In each article, the author will share technical, thought-provoking, and sometimes humorous or emotional experiences garnered in a career that spans over 20 years inside the gates of facilities.