The Materials Technology Institute (MTI) will hold a two-day conference focused on Risk Based Inspection (RBI)26th–27th February 2007as part of its Winter Meeting in Galveston TexasUSA.
According to organisersthe following companies are among those planning to participate: Shell Oil CompanyExxonMobilConocoPhillipsBayerDow ChemicalDuPontRohm & HaasCapstone EngineeringDNVEquity EngineeringUK’s HSEand the US Chemical Safety Board.
In February 2005MTI published a book entitled Implementing and Evergreening RBI in Process Plants. During a one-day meeting where the book was rolled out to MTI membersit was agreed that the publication would need periodic updating to both evergreen and improve it.
The objective of this conference is to bring together MTI members and interested non-MTI members to discuss and present the results of their experiences in implementing RBI in their respective companies and plants.
Success stories
The experiences are expected to highlight success stories as well as identify areas for improvement in the implementation of RBI in chemical process plants and process plants using chemical processes. The conference will focus on end users of RBI and their experiences.
Emory FordAssociate Director at Materials Technology Institute and a contributor to the booksays that feedback regarding the RBI book has been positive sold out of its first printing. “
“Things I’ve heard is that it’s easy to useeasy to follow” according to Ricardo ValbuenaPrincipal Author and ManagerMechanical Integrity and Reliability at ConocoPhillips Humber Refinery.
“We wanted a book that was going to get all greasyall dirty. We wanted a book that was going to get used.” So farso good. “It’s getting read” says Valbuena.
The RBI Manual is also a work in progress. “One of the deliverables that we presented in the book is that we will have conferences every other year to continue with the knowledge sharing” said Valbuena. “We wanted this conference to be one of the instruments that will help us keep the book and the ideas evergreen.”
To that endparticipants will discuss and present the results of their experiences implementing RBI at the February 2007 Conference. ValbuenaFordand co-organiser and author John AllerPresident of Capstone Engineeringare targeting 14–16 speakers for the conference and hope to draw as many as 250 attendees from around the world. “We’re going to have a lot of new speakers presenting” said Valbuena. “We wanted fresh ideas.
“We have seen a lot of conferences on RBI where it’s primarily software vendor companies that come in and try to sell either their methodology or software package.”
‘Balance of players’
He continued: “What we wanted to do is to make an effort to set up a conference that had a better balance of vendorsowner usersinsurance companiesand regulators.
“It will include what we think is the appropriate balance of players that help shape the principles of mechanical integrity and reliability in process facilities.”
Ford would also like to see universities participate in the conference. “We’re hoping to have at least one academic speaker to talk about the whole concept of risk assessment” he says.
“That’s a very hot topic because nobody wants to take any risks” adds Valbuena. “That’s going to generate a lot of discussion.”
Conference organisers hope to gather valuable information from participants.
According to Fordpanel sessionssuch as one focused on Barriers to RBI implementationwill generate feedback.
“We’re going to ask: ‘You’ve had 14 chapters to readnow what got in your way of implementing this?’” he says.
Sharing knowledge
Ford stresses that the conference will not be venue for commercial offerings of RBI methodology. “No one is going to try to sell anybody anything at this conference” he explains. “At the end of the daythe goal of the conference is to share knowledgeone with another.
“We’re asking vendors to come and present a balanced paper on the good and bad experiences. We want to know not only about your successesbut tell about your failures because you tend to learn a lot quicker from failures than from successes.”
“We have spent a lot of time making sure that we have the right topics and the right speakers” says Valbuena. “We want people to feel like they really gained something out of this. We're really putting a lot of effort into the quality of it.”
A preliminary agenda for the RBI Conference includes the following presentations:
- Barriers to RBI Implementation (Panel Discussion).
- Development and Validation of Risk based Inspection Plans.
- Implementing RBI on a Global Basis.
- Implementing RBI on Storage TanksPipingHeat Exchanger bundles and Pressure Safety Valves.
- Integrating RBI into Plant Management Systems.
- Knowledge SharingRBI Conferences and RBI publications from around the world.
- Opportunities to Improve RBI.
- RBI for New Plants.
- RBI Implementation by Owner Users.
- Risk Management in the Chemical Process Industry.
- RolesResponsibilitiesTrainingQualifications.
- Survey of Large Losses in the Process Industry.
- Mechanical Integrity Improvements and Challenges after a major incident.
- Survey of RBI Tools.
- Validation and Extension of Inspection Intervals.
The Materials Technology Institute is based in St LouisMOUSA.For more information on the institute and the Risk Base Inspection conferencevisit
"