Risk-based inspection: extending the life of ageing industrial assets

How operators can move from calendar-based to risk-based inspection programmes without compromising safety.

Many industrial assets are now operating well beyond their original design life. Calendar-based inspection intervals, designed for new equipment, can either waste resources on low-risk items or miss emerging damage on critical ones.

Risk-based inspection (RBI) combines the probability of failure with its consequences to prioritise inspection effort. The result is a programme that focuses attention where it matters most.

A successful RBI programme starts with reliable data: design records, operating history, past inspection findings and damage-mechanism reviews. Gaps in this data are themselves a risk and should be addressed early.

Independent inspection partners can help validate assumptions, select appropriate NDT techniques and provide the objective evidence that management and stakeholders expect.