Breaking Down Silos: Aligning Asset Integrity with Process Safety

Inspectioneering recently had the opportunity to speak with Ken Min, Executive Director of Asset Integrity Services at MISTRAS Group, about asset integrity through the lens of process safety. Our conversation examined why asset/mechanical integrity—one of the 14 elements of Process Safety Management (PSM)—often operates in a silo, what makes it one of the most intensive elements to manage, and how a more integrated approach across PSM elements can help owner-operators enhance their programs and drive lasting improvement.

Inspectioneering (IJ): You’ve worked across multiple industries, including oil & gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, and ammonia refrigeration. How has your understanding of asset integrity evolved across these different business environments? How do they differ from one another from an asset integrity perspective?

Ken Min (KM): I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to build my foundation in asset integrity through spending the first half of my years in the owner-operator environment, and the latter in consulting across many different industries, tasks ranging from climbing through internal manways inside towers performing inspections, all the way to performing program-level PSM audits.

While refineries and larger chemical facilities generally have more mature asset integrity programs, I have found that the culture and leadership support are perhaps the biggest factors of a program's maturity.

In working with various industries, I have observed that each seems to have different styles and strengths in its asset integrity programs. For example, in industries where product quality takes precedence, such as the pharmaceutical and electronics industries, their internal liner integrity programs tend to be more stringent, more frequent, and more advanced than others. Industries where rapid shutdown is paramount, such as specialty chemicals and some oil & gas processes, tend to have more advanced instrumentation and controls integrity with stringent testing requirements such as High-Integrity Pressure Protection Systems (HIPPS).

This can go to show that there is more transferable knowledge and experience across the industries than many people assume. I would love to see more cross-pollination in the knowledge exchange through industry events like the API Inspection and Mechanical Integrity Summit and standards meetings for both the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR). These meetings are to propel all our industries forward.