process safety improvements in refineries and petrochemical plants by providing industry with more opportunities to communicate and share experiences and knowledge. Through this partnership, API and AFPM collect process safety performance metrics, share process safety event information, produce and share Practices Sharing and Hazard Identification documents, host Regional Networks meetings, address issue-specific topics such as Mechanical Integrity and Human Reliability. API also operates a program that assesses a site’s Process Safety systems using independent and credible third party teams of industry-qualified process safety expert assessors. Through the use of industry developed protocols, the assessments evaluate both the quality of the written programs and the effectiveness of field implementation, including a site’s Mechanical Integrity program. API has taken an active role in the creation and propagation of MI information and materials. API committees create Standards and RPs that address MI, largely in the areas of inspection and repair of pressure vessels, aboveground storage tanks, equipment reliability, corrosion, mechanics, and reducing capital and maintenance costs. These documents provide expectations on implementation and compliance, and many contain requirements in the form of “shall” statements, as determined by industry consensus committees. The creation of these industry-wide standards allows for procedures and practices to seamlessly continue at a company despite challenges presented by a dynamic and changing workforce. Institutional knowledge is no longer limited to a few senior employees, and “gut feeling” is replaced with tried-and-true methods contained in the Standards and RPs.Because they must be applicable to many different sites, API committees write their documents in a way that still allows managers to operate in the most safe and efficient manner as dictated by their own facility’s needs. The motivation for writing API MI Standards and RPs was based on safety, competition, and budgeting challenges, as well as myriad external pressures, but the adoption of these documents has led to more valuable inspection data,increased ability to handle changing process conditions, and the scheduling and budgeting benefit of planned inspections, among other things. API Standards and RPs are periodically reviewed so that they remain relevant and valuable to the industry, and a review of past standards and updates shows how well the industry has adapted to changing times and MI science. This booklet is designed to acquaint the reader with the MI resources available for Fixed Equiment in API Standards, Recommended Practices, and other helpful resources. The information is organized topically, and “companion” documents meant to complement one another are highlighted and listed together.
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