Inspectioneering
Inspectioneering Journal

Proper Assessment of Inspection Findings

By Blake Stermer, Sr. Mechanical Integrity/Turnaround Consultant at Sentinel Integrity Solutions. This article appears in the November/December 2016 issue of Inspectioneering Journal.
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Introduction

This article applies to the assessment of inspection findings for fixed equipment assets (e.g., drums, towers, reactors, piping, etc.) associated with owner/user facilities.  With that said, as certified inspection professionals, we owe it to the client (owner/user) to not only find and document damage, but diligently investigate and quantify the damage to facilitate submitting an effective work request that captures recommended repairs and their justification, or initiate further inspection and/or testing to complete the inspection assessment.  

For the majority of owner/users, their Quality Assurance (QA) and Mechanical Integrity programs have adopted API 510 and API 570 to maintain compliance with OSHA 1910.119.     

Importance of the Inspection Assessment

As the industry strives to maintain PSM/OSHA compliance through owner/user mechanical integrity programs, inspection professionals should fully understand technical standards to generate an adequate repair recommendation or request further inspection and testing. The majority of inspectors can perform an inspection and locate damage, whether it is from external, internal or supplemental inspections; but what you do with that data and if/when/how you present this to the client for repairs or further inspection/testing is critical.  I will use an internal inspection of a pressure vessel during a turnaround outage as an example.

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Comments and Discussion

Posted by Mark Savage on January 4, 2017
Great article, Blake! I replay that lesson from... Log in or register to read the rest of this comment.

Posted by Jacob Vidrine on January 9, 2017
A great read and a well-written article, Blake. Log in or register to read the rest of this comment.

Posted by Bradley Baudier on January 11, 2017
Spot On! Great article, Blake. Log in or register to read the rest of this comment.

Posted by Brooks Firmin on February 23, 2017
Great article submitted by one of the most highly... Log in or register to read the rest of this comment.

Posted by Jeffrey Morris on March 7, 2017
Well written article on a good subject. I was... Log in or register to read the rest of this comment.

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