The Importance of Baseline Inspections

Introduction

Baseline or commissioning inspections are a group of inspections and examinations performed prior to placing a piece of equipment into its intended service. It can be performed at the fabrication facility or in the field before commissioning. They are sometimes overlooked or simplified to the point of adding a note in a file or in the inspection data management system (IDMS) stating that the equipment/piping was replaced/installed on this date. However, there is a wealth of information that can and should be captured during the installation and documented for future reference. Below you will see the benefits of performing a robust commissioning inspection and capturing the documentation that may be available during installation for future use.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) 510 Pressure Vessel Inspection Code and API 570 Piping Inspection Code only cover equipment that has been placed in-service. This means that API does not require baseline or commissioning inspections, however, there are statements in the API documents that encourage the equipment inspection according to the code of construction [1,2]. While this is a “should,” to determine the appropriate inspection schedules, much of the information obtained during fabrication and installation is extremely useful, if not critical.

Sources of Data

A baseline inspection provides a start to life assessment for an asset. During the commissioning of an asset, the inspector has access to the design documents, the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) documents, and the management of change and pre-startup safety reviews (MOC/PSSRs) for the equipment installation. Also important is that during commissioning all the information is fresh on the minds of all involved. Why are these important? Let’s break this down further: