Roadmap for Effective Risk-Based Inspection Implementation

Introduction

Risk-based inspection methodology (RBI) evolved in mid-90’s and within two decades it has gained significant acceptance and application across industry. Many organizations have benefited from the risk-based approach for optimizing their inspection resources and getting maximum availability of their assets.

Some of the benefits from RBI may include:

• Increased facility availability, improved reliability
• Focused inspection on high risk equipment
• Increased intervals between inspections
• Shorter and fewer facility shutdowns
• Clearer understanding of high-risk equipment and ability to implement mitigation measures
• Identified deterioration modes and mechanisms
• Significant reduction in total cost of inspection
• Regulatory compliance/acceptance
• Improved Turnaround planning
• Better-informed, documented, defensible decisions

There are a handful of standards and recommended practices covering RBI such as API 580/581, ASME PCC3, DNV-RP-G101, & RIMAP. Most of these guidelines provide either oversimplified or complex explanations. For starters, it is difficult to learn all the aspects that are critical to the successful implementation of RBI. The purpose of this article is to discuss the fundamental elements of effective RBI system implementation in a simplified manner.

An effective RBI system implementation results in, not only safeguarding your assets & people, but can also reduce unnecessary inspection activities that may be required due to conventional & nonsystematic approaches. However, some essential elements are required to accomplish this, including:

• Solid commitment from the management and stake holders
• A team of knowledgeable, qualified specialists and engineers from departments such as corrosion, inspection, maintenance/reliability, process, production and operation etc.
• Availability of design, construction, historical records and inspection data
• Suitable methodology and software for the assessments
• Utilization of latest technologies for inspection

RBI programs may suffer in delivering desired results due to lack of understanding regarding the effective implementation strategy and these essential elements. A general misconception regarding RBI is “the reduction of inspection cost”, which may not necessarily be true all of the time as the focus of RBI is to understand and reduce the risk associated with operation of an asset or facility, not just the inspection costs. However, cost reduction can be an attribute of a well-implemented RBI program, which is achievable long term. Therefore, a better understanding of inputs and outputs is required before and after implementation.