Why RBI? 6 Reasons to Start Your RBI Program Today

Anyone who knows me knows that Risk Based Inspection (RBI) and Risk Management are true passions of mine.  I have dedicated much of my career to studying them, understanding their intricacies, and witnessing the benefits of their successful implementation.  This article briefly discusses the history of RBI and provides a short, yet persuasive justification for investing in establishing an effective RBI program.

Evolution of RBI

Let me start with a bit of historical perspective on where RBI came from. In the “old days” inspection programs were designed as a “hit or miss” activity.  In general, during continuous run operations, we inspected pressure vessels and piping every 3 years.  In batch run operations, we often inspected more frequently (especially for fragile equipment, i.e., glass lined, rubber lined equipment, etc. and equipment requiring corrosion control due to extremely high corrosion rates where substrate exposure to the process media would lead to quick leaks/failure), and hopefully found a potential problem before it resulted in a leak, failure, or worse, a process safety incident.