Risk management is gaining more importance over the decades, especially for asset-intensive industries such as energy, oil& gas and chemical industries. This is due to the fact that effective risk-based asset management will assist to guide the organization to evaluate the trade-off between cost and risk and enables a structured decision-making process. This will help companies to understand the risk they run in relation to business value in a cost-effective way.

Various types of risk-based approaches and methodologies, particularly for physical assets, were developed over the years for various industries. The most recognized risk-based inspection (RBI) assessment that most plants adopt is API RP 580 /581. With a thorough understanding of RBI and an effective implementation of the RBI program, the plant owner is able to optimise the inspection efforts for each equipment/item of a plant within the boundaries of appropriately defined integrity operating limits, whilst minimising equipment failure risks caused by the relevant damage mechanisms. The importance of the RBI program is evident when the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has indicated RBI as an essential element in the technical assessment process in the latest guidelines when plant owner is applying for an extension of statutory inspection internal (SI interval) for pressure vessels. (Note: The MOM guideline is titled as “Guidelines on Extension Scheme for Pressure Vessels – 2021”).

Selecting the right tool for the RBI program, i.e. RBI assessment software, is critical to the success of the implementation of the RBI program in its quest to assist plant owners to perform and implement RBI programs, to fulfil the RBI requirement from the latest MOM extension guidelines.