Alert - Tank Inspection Incident

Description of Tank Inspection Incident

Recently an unnecessary financial incident was caused as a result of an inadequate tank inspection and failure to recognize the hazards of rain entering leaking fixed roofs of storage tanks. A bolted bladder tank upgrade was scoped for miscellaneous repairs including a bladder replacement. The terminal requested a tank inspection but limited the inspection to only certain accessible portions of the tank. The job was then scoped and cost estimated. Later additional funds had to be allocated to fix unanticipated problems that the inspection failed to reveal. These problems included severe internal corrosion of the bladder ring and the entire second course, which now must be replaced, but which was unanticipated after the tank had been inspected and the job cost estimated.