Whiteboard Discussion: Why Do We Inspect?

Overview

It takes time and money to inspect equipment and the act of doing so can introduce physical hazards for field workers. In this latest Whiteboard Discussion, Greg Alvarado prompts the Inspectioneer to think about the value of the output of their inspection strategy in order to avoid wasting time and money and to focus on how the inspection results will improve the reliability, risk assessment, or remaining life prediction of the equipment.

Inspectors, even senior inspectors, have become so busy over the years that the pressures of managing resources, outside inspectors, politics, and everything else, leaves little time to devote to analyzing data and really doing what they like to do. So why do we inspect? Answer: To fine tune the reliability prediction. To uncover information that may confirm if the equipment is degrading at the rate we predicted, or in other words, to confirm what the true damage state of the equipment is. Risk levels dictate how accurate we need to be based on the amount of risk we are willing to accept.

Things to Consider

• API RP 571
• Probability of detection of the NDE method
• Corrosion control documents 

Watch More Whiteboard Discussion Videos:

• Foundational Principles of Risk-Based Inspection
• Damage Accumulation: A Holistic Approach to Evaluating Equipment Remaining Life
• A Fundamental RBI Metric
• The Importance of API RP 581 Inspection Effectiveness Tables