The seminar - called The Mechanical Integrity of Process Equipment: New Guidance on Inspection and Testing was based around a new guidance document, which has recently been published by the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed) and the Engineering Equipment and Materials Users Association (EEMUA). Known as SAFed IMG01 and EEMUA231, (Read More)
the document is endorsed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is freely available and provides guidance on inspection as part of managing the integrity of process equipment that contains hazardous materials.
The seminar, which was chaired by Robin Luxmoore, Chairman of EEMUA’s User Inspectorate Committee, was in four sessions each with two presentations. All the presenters were experts in the field of process integrity and several of them had been involved in preparing the guidance document.
The keynote presentation was given by Stuart Pointer of the HSE and he summarised the latest results of the Executive’s work on Ageing Plant. The HSE is examining companies handling hazardous materials and assessing their performance against a series of parameters. To date only 30% are meeting all the mechanical criteria and the HSE believe documents such as the new guidance, as well as events like the current seminar, could improve this situation. Richard Hulmes of SAFed then talked generally about mechanical integrity and its importance in maintaining safety within the process industry.
The second session was opened by Miles Gardner of Zurich Engineering, who described briefly what the new guidance document contained and how it had been prepared. Stefan Kukula of EEMUA explained that although this had been described as new guidance, it was not really new because it recommends inspection practices that have been used widely in the past.
The lunch break was followed by two presentations on non-destructive examination techniques. Robert Smith, member of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing described some recent developments in this field while Alan Parker and Jason Taylor, from Oceaneering, explained how their company was using the most recent techniques in inspection.
The final session consisted of two presentations describing case studies where real experience in inspection -or the lack of it - could be used to illustrate the principles in the guidance. Mike Webb of LMP Technical Services discussed the application of the guidance to real situations while the HSE’s Paul Stanworth described how the failure of inspection led to the collapse of an atmospheric storage tank.
This seminar was supported by the two organisations who have published the guidance- EEMUA and SAFed - as well as the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, the Pipeline Industries Guild, the Energy Institute, the Hazards Forum and the UK Forum for Engineering Structural Integrity.
The Institution intends to run more seminars in 2014 continuing with the theme of Ageing Plant. Ref: www.imeche.org/events/S1737
Because this is seen as a key area in ensuring that future plant operations continue to be safe, the seminars will be supported by the HSE. Questions:
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