SystemAsset Integrity & Inspection

Equipment Deficiency Management

Equipment deficiency management that treats a closed work order as a claim, and asks for the reading, the repair record and the clamp gone.

See the demo Book a demo

Follow one clamp from 07:02 to the countersign at 10:00 ↓

The problem

The job closed in a batch, and the gas checks stopped with it

An inspector finds a thin elbow. A clamp goes on, a priority job is raised, and rounds start because the change record says so. Weeks later the planner closes the job with a couple of hundred others, and the note reads clamp fitted, leak stopped. From then on the maintenance system calls it fixed.

Nobody took a reading after the repair. The spool replacement has no job. The rounds were tied to the job, so they dropped off the list the minute it closed, and nobody decided that. Reading thousands of closures by hand is out of reach, so an audit samples a few and the rest stay unseen.

Built forIntegrity engineersUnit superintendentsProcess safety engineersMaintenance plannersInternal auditors

The Problem Today

Findings fade into job queues, and a work order marked complete gets taken as proof the equipment is back in limits.

63: refinery citations for uncorrected deficiencies, one regulator published
3,267: hours for one person to read 9,800 closures, 20 minutes each our estimate

Chased by hand today

Findings
Job status
Clamps
Rounds

Safeguards end with the jobClose the job and the safety rounds quietly stop
Temporary turns permanentA clamp past its date looks like any other pipe

The Solution

Catch the findingEach finding lifted from its report, with the limit it breached
Draw the lineTime outside the limit, safeguards beneath, any gap left plain
Test the closureReading after repair, repair record, temporary fix gone
A person rulesReopen with a safeguard, a date and a new job, or send it back

Built-in controls

Only records the signer opened count toward a signature
Agents never close, reopen or accept a line
Asked if a clamp is safe, the assistant names a person

What You Get

Superintendents see which equipment runs with nothing under it, and auditors can trace each ruling.

One board for open and unprovedOpen lines and closures with no proof, counted together
Clocks that climbLate lines climb a ladder, each note drafted for a person
Evidence that downloadsLimit, safeguards, dates, change record and names, per line

The clamp’s morning

A clamp on a sour stripper line, from the 07:02 board to the 10:00 countersign

A pinhole leak at an elbow on a naphtha hydrotreater’s stripper overhead got a bolted clamp and a fix-today job, which closed 23 days later. This is the morning the line came back.

demoThe clamp, the plant, its crew and each figure here are sample data.

0107:02
1,951 lines, and the clamp sits on top with 12 days of nothing under it
Integrity engineer
Overnight the agents redrew the board: 1,137 open lines plus 814 closures with no proof. Each bar is time outside a limit, safeguards drawn beneath it. The clamp’s line sits first, closed with no proof, its red gap reading 12 days, no safeguard. Chips above count 190 with no safeguard today and 56 safety devices out.
02Before the test
Thirty-five days outside its limit, and the job says complete
Integrity engineer
Its own line spells it out. Found at 0.094 in against a minimum of 0.130 in, worked from the design pressure on the page, the wall was below its limit. A fix-today job ran 23 days and then closed. The clamp is allowed to the end of the year, and the gas and clamp checks stopped where the job closed.
0309:15
Three questions about the closure, and three crosses
Integrity engineer
The test takes the job against the limit it breached. Is there a thickness reading after the repair? None; the readings ordered either side of the clamp have no record. Is there a repair record for the elbow? Only the clamp. Is the temporary fix gone? No, the removal date is blank. The record still shows a breach, so the line stays open.
0409:18
Three of eight grid points below minimum, in a pit the spot reading missed
Integrity engineer
The engineer opens the source himself. The ultrasonic grid taken around the pinhole the morning of the leak reads 0.094, 0.121 and 0.118 in at three points, all under 0.130. A search of the inspection data system after the clamp went on finds nothing. The screen says no record found means none was filed, and it does not prove none was taken.
0509:30
Agreed after opening all three records, then sent up
Integrity engineer
The agree button stays shut until the job, the readings and the register row are open, and the ticks beside them are his own. Once all three are ticked he agrees the closure is not proved and sends it to the superintendent. The chip now reads with the superintendent. Until she rules, the line stays open and the board keeps counting the gap.
0609:33
Her own three openings, and rounds she cannot drop
Unit operations superintendent
His openings do not count for her, so she opens the same three records. The drafted ruling locks the gas and clamp check, because the change record says it runs until the clamp is removed. She picks a repair date inside the unit's short outage to clean the condenser, and the reason temporary fix still in place. The later turnaround date is marked past the clamp’s allowed date.
0709:45
Reopened, and the line redraws with a safeguard from today
Unit operations superintendent
The line gains a new safeguard bar, signed, starting today, and a repair-date mark. The chip reads safeguard signed, no round logged yet. A new job is drafted for the planner to enter. The repair date sits 40 days out, past the 30-day limit for a running decision, so it waits for process safety and has not taken effect.
0810:00
A 40-day running decision, countersigned after two records
Process safety engineer
Process safety reads two things first: the temporary change record and the round log. Her ticks sit beside both in the sources list, and the line's trail records each opening and then the countersign. Only then does the running decision take effect. The panel now hands the next step to the maintenance planner, who drafts the booking.
09After the countersign
The new spool job tops the list, and closing it will not end the line
Maintenance planner
The new job leads the planner's list, priority fix today: replace the elbow spool, remove the clamp and read the wall after. The page says the maintenance system keeps its own jobs and this solution only reads it. Closing the job there is his call and changes nothing here. The line ends only when a reading, a repair record and the clamp's removal are accepted.

Six reasons 814 of 9,800 closures show no proof

The closure test read three years of closed jobs on the morning's board, before the clamp's ruling.

No proof after the repair	412
Repair record names other equipment	143
Temporary fix still on the equipment	96
Closed as a duplicate of a job still open	57
Evidence cannot be read	54
Reading still below the limit	52
Closures with no proof8.3% of 9,800; the other 8,986 proved	814

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Four closures a batch close-out passes as done

Each one reads complete in the maintenance system.

Rounds that ended with the job

A safeguard tied to a job stops when the job closes. On the board, 435 ended that way.

A repair filed under a neighbor

The repair record names other equipment. Of the 143, 72 have a second job holding the proof, which a person can accept.

Closed as a duplicate of a job still open

The duplicate closes while the job it points at stays open, so no closed job stands behind the deficiency.

A reading still below the limit

Closed on a wall reading that never came back above its minimum. These still show a breach on record.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Around the board

Bulk reopens, findings, safeguards and the clamp register

The rest of the deficiency team’s screens, taken after the clamp’s ruling.

Closure test results for 9,800 closed jobs: 8,986 proved, 813 with no proof, broken down by why each shows no proof — **Did the closure fix it?**Three years of closures, each tested against its limit: 8,986 proved and 813 with no proof, after one reopened by a person.

Bulk reopen of 379 closures: who proposed, who decides, the second person, the clock, and a sample of 20 drawn at random to open — **The largest decision**379 closures reopened in one ruling, with one person deciding, a second countersigning, a clock, and 20 drawn at random to open first.

Findings lifted from inspection reports this week, each with its report page, the limit, the agent’s certainty and its proposal — **Findings caught this week**64 findings from 37 reports, each lifted in its own sentence: 41 outside a limit, 17 to watch, 6 held with no limit on file.

Interim safeguards list: 105 expiring in seven days, 23 with rounds missed, 61 lapsed, 129 never had one and 435 that ended with a job — **Interim safeguards**What is being done while equipment stays outside its limit, by whom and until when. A safeguard counts only with a dated record behind it.

Temporary repair register of 286 clamps, wraps and patches, filtered to 72 past their allowed date, with days past and line state — **Temporary repair register**Clamps, wraps and patches with the date each is allowed to: 72 past it, 23 over a year past and permanent in all but name.

Audit trail for a deficiency line: each record opened, the engineer's agreement, the reopen, the agent's redraw and the countersign — **Audit trail**Each opening, proposal, ruling and countersign on the clamp, in order, with the agents' steps beside the people's. Nothing can be edited.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Who proposes, rules and countersigns in equipment deficiency management

Integrity engineer

Sees: The line, the closure test and the sources behind it
Signs: Agrees or disagrees with the agent, only after opening the records; never rules on his own proposal

Unit operations superintendent

Sees: The same records, opened again in her own name
Signs: Reopens with a safeguard, a date and a reason, accepts a proved closure, or sends it back

Process safety engineer

Sees: The change record and the round log
Signs: Countersigns running decisions past the day limit and the bulk reopen, and signs settings

Maintenance planner

Sees: Jobs tied to lines, with scope and repair date
Signs: Enters the drafted booking in the maintenance system; a job closed there leaves the line open

Internal auditor

Sees: Each line, pack and trail, without a single control to act
Signs: Nothing; takes the line packs and the trail as downloaded files

The agents

Eight agents draw the lines and test closures; none of them closes one

Finding catcher

Lifts each finding from its report, with the sentence that holds it.

Never opens a line by itself

Limit finder

Finds the limit for this exact equipment and measure.

Never invents or borrows a limit
Never says a value is safe

Line keeper

Draws each line and every gap from dated records.

Never colors a gap as covered
Never ends a line

Closure tester

Asks each closure for the reading, the repair record and the temporary fix gone.

Never closes, reopens or accepts
No record found is never proof

Ruling drafter

Drafts the reopen, the safeguard, the dates and the job.

Never recommends running
Never sends

Safeguard watch

Reads round logs against what each safeguard promised and warns before expiry.

Never renews a safeguard
Never edits a log

Clock keeper

Ages each late line and drafts the note for the person on that rung.

Never moves a date
Sends nothing alone

Evidence packer

Builds line packs from the signed record and says what is missing.

Never edits a record

Keeping equipment running outside its limit stays with named people

A closed job is not the end of a lineOnly accepted proof ends it: a reading, a repair record and the temporary fix removed, opened and agreed by two people.

No safeguard blocks a running decisionA line with nothing under it cannot be signed to keep running, and the screen names who decides instead.

A clamp's allowed date holdsA repair date past it is refused until a new change record is signed, with a safeguard in date and process safety's signature.

Relief valves and trips need process safetyA closure on a relief device or a safety instrument is accepted only with process safety's signature as well.

Safety questions reach a personAsk the assistant whether a clamp is safe and it sends the question to a named person, with no data back.

What integrity teams ask about equipment deficiency management

What is equipment deficiency management?

Equipment deficiency management is how a plant tracks equipment found outside its acceptable limits until it is fixed, or until a person decides, with safeguards in place, how it keeps running. This solution draws each deficiency as a line with its safeguards beneath, and tests each closed job against the limit it breached.

Why is a completed work order not enough?

Complete means the craft finished the job’s task. It does not show the limit is back. A clamp fitted and a leak stopped can close a job while the wall stays thin. The closure test asks for a reading after the repair, a repair record for the equipment and the temporary fix removed.

How does it handle temporary repairs and leak clamps?

Each clamp, wrap and patch sits on a temporary repair register with the date it is allowed to. A clamp past its date stays visible until a person acts. A repair date beyond the allowed date is refused until a new change record is signed with a safeguard in date and process safety's signature.

What are interim safeguards, and how are gaps shown?

Interim safeguards are what is done while equipment stays outside its limit: rounds, watches, extra readings or lowered limits. They are drawn beneath each line from dated records. A stretch with no safeguard shows as a plain gap with its day count, and safeguards that ended with a job are counted.

Can it track inspection recommendations that are overdue?

Yes. Findings are lifted from each inspection report in their own sentence, with the limit they breached. A finding with no limit on file is held until one is found. Lines past their fix-by date climb a ladder of people, and the clock keeper drafts the note for each rung.

Who can close a deficiency?

No agent can. The integrity engineer proposes, the unit superintendent rules, and process safety countersigns a running decision past the day limit. Each signature counts only records the signer opened. The maintenance planner books the job, and closing it in the maintenance system leaves the line open until proof is accepted.

Asset Integrity & Inspection

Bring a month of closed jobs
and the clamps behind them.

We’ll test your own closures against the limits they breached, and draw the gaps with you.

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Equipment Deficiency Management

The job closed in a batch, and the gas checks stopped with it

The Problem Today

The Solution

What You Get

A clamp on a sour stripper line, from the 07:02 board to the 10:00 countersign

1,951 lines, and the clamp sits on top with 12 days of nothing under it

Thirty-five days outside its limit, and the job says complete

Three questions about the closure, and three crosses

Three of eight grid points below minimum, in a pit the spot reading missed

Agreed after opening all three records, then sent up

Her own three openings, and rounds she cannot drop

Reopened, and the line redraws with a safeguard from today

A 40-day running decision, countersigned after two records

The new spool job tops the list, and closing it will not end the line

Six reasons 814 of 9,800 closures show no proof

Four closures a batch close-out passes as done

Bulk reopens, findings, safeguards and the clamp register

Who proposes, rules and countersigns in equipment deficiency management

Eight agents draw the lines and test closures; none of them closes one

Keeping equipment running outside its limit stays with named people

What integrity teams ask about equipment deficiency management

More solutions for integrity and inspection teams

Bring a month of closed jobsand the clamps behind them.

Bring a month of closed jobs
and the clamps behind them.