AN INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL INTEGRITY: FIXED EQUIPMENT M echanical Integrity (MI) can be defined as the management of critical process equipment and pumps to ensure it is designed and installed correctly and that it is operated and maintained properly. MI is one of the 14 elements included in the OSHA Process Safety Management standard. MI includes equipment/ assets such as pressure vessels, storage tanks, piping systems, and associated hardware (valves, fittings, etc.), relief devices, and emergency shutdown/control systems. MI encompasses the activities necessary to ensure that equipment/assets are designed, fabricated, installed, operated and maintained in a way that provides the desired performance in a safe, environmentally protected, and reliable fashion. In the early 1900s, the need to protect workers and the public from the hazards of boilers and pressurized equipment became apparent, so the industry began to develop design standards After World War II, a number of industry consensus standards were developed by the National Board Inspection Code (NBIC). By the 1980s, the American Petroleum Institute (API) led industry efforts to develop and implement important MI standards, while the federal government also turned its regulatory attention to MI. API, industry, and the regulators have addressed MI head-on since the early-90s, particularly through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Process Safety Management (PSM) program and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Risk Management Program (RMP), as well as many additional Standards and Recommended Practices (RPs) published by API. API and AFPM jointly manage the Advancing Process Safety Initiative which is a joint effort to further advance
TIMELINE OF IMPORTANT MI EVENTS 1958 • API 510 - Pressure Vessel Inspection Code
1984 •
Bhopal Disaster
1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 •
API RP 750 Management of Process Hazards
API Std 653 - Tank Inspection, Repair, Alteration, and Reconstruction OSHA PSM Final Rule
API 570 - Piping Inspection Code
Chemical Safety Board formed
EPA Risk Management Program Final Rule API Publ 581 - Risk- Based Inspection - Base Resource Document Baker Panel Refinery Safety Review OSHA Refinery National Emphasis Program Effective Date
2006 • 2007 •
2010 •
API & AFPM Advancing Process Safety Programs founded
2012 •
First API Site Assessment
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