Do Annual or Bi-annual Boiler Inspections Really Add Safety Value In Our Industry?

Are your jurisdictional boiler and/or pressure vessel rules and regulations too stringent, too costly, too bureaucratic, without adding real safety value commensurate with the time and resources necessary for compliance? Are you having to hire third party inspectors to perform boiler and/or pressure vessel inspections, when you have fully qualified, competent inspection resources on staff? Are you having to shut down safe, reliable boilers and/or pressure vessels annually (or bi-annually) just to comply with outdated boiler and/or pressure vessel (B&PV) inspection requirements? If the answer to any of these questions is "yes" for your company, read on: you may be interested to know that times are changing.

The API Committee on Refinery Equipment (CRE) has an active task group seeking to improve boiler and pressure vessel legislation and regulations. That task group is vitally interested in maintaining and improving boiler and pressure vessel safety by promoting compliance with industry codes and standards. The problem we are currently struggling with is that many of our jurisdictional rules and regulations for boiler and pressure vessel safety are outdated and are not adding real safety value commensurate with the time and resources necessary for compliance. And we all know that the time and resources necessary for compliance with unnecessary bureaucratic rules take away from the time and resources available for real safety issues.