As you may know, Encorus Group offers Mechanical Integrity Services. You might not know exactly what that encompasses, though.
Generally speaking, mechanical integrity services includes activities necessary to ensure that equipment and assets are designed, fabricated, installed, operated, and maintained in a way that ensures that they are safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible. Equipment and assets include things such as tanks and vessels, piping, boilers, and other equipment. Some companies have a complex, established mechanical integrity (MI) program; some simply get the minimum inspections when required by a particular jurisdiction. Many companies are in between those two levels, but having an established MI program allows for a proactive approach to essential (and often dangerous and / or expensive) equipment. Periodic inspection, testing, and maintenance can assist in documentation requirements, safety and health program approvals, identification of issues before they become problems, and most importantly, protect the health and safety of employees. Encorus can take the burden off of your company by providing all of these services for you.
Mechanical integrity inspectors can hold a number of certifications. These certifications generally follow instruction and / or testing in a particular area, and are issued by organizations including the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Steel Tank Institute (STI), the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), the American Welding Society, and states and localities. These organizations help ensure uniformity of inspection criteria and meet the requirements of regulatory bodies such as OSHA, EPA or a variety of other state and local jurisdictional groups.
What types of things do mechanical integrity inspectors inspect?
- Pressure Vessels
- Process Piping
- Storage Tanks – Any service and construction
- Corrosion & Damage Mechanisms
- Weld quality and integrity
- Pressure / safety relief valves
- Protective coatings
- Fitness for service of various equipment components
- Function of control systems
- Heat exchangers
- Causes of equipment failure
- Overall equipment safety
Much of the mechanical integrity inspector’s work is visual inspection, but other methods and equipment they utilize includes, ultrasonic thickness testing (UTT), magnetic particle testing (MT), liquid penetrant testing (PT), magnetic flux leakage (MFL), leak testing (LT), ground penetrating radar (GPR), thermal analysis and positive material identification (PMI).
In the coming weeks, we will be meeting Encorus Group’s mechanical integrity team and learning about what they do and how they do it. If you need any of the services we’ve talked about here (or would like to find out if we do something not mentioned here!), call Keith Taylor, Director of Mechanical Integrity Services at 716.592.3980, ext. 143, or email him at ktaylor@encorus.com.
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