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Mechanical Integrity Audit

Mechanical integrity audit software that runs each test on the whole population of inspection records, then counts the ones it could not read.

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Walk the audit morning, 09:17 to 09:47 ↓
The problem

A mechanical integrity audit reads a sample; the bad deferral sits outside it

Inspection records are spread across the inspection data system, the document system and boxes of contractor reports. So the audit picks a sample by judgment and ticks it against a checklist. Deferrals and change records sit in other systems and are rarely traced.

The rare case stays out of reach: the deferral with no change record, the inspector certificate that lapsed, the due date nobody recalculated. A finding drawn from one example has no size, and the regulator may find the rest first.

Built forProcess safety auditorsAudit managersIntegrity program ownersInspection data analysts

The Problem Today

No auditor can read thousands of inspection records by hand, so a bad deferral can sit unread for years.

19.5%
of process safety citations in a refinery inspection drive published
2,026 h
to read 24,316 records by hand at 5 minutes each our estimate

Read by hand at audit time

  • Thickness
  • Deferrals
  • Relief
  • Inspectors
  • Samples miss the rare caseA few records stand in for thousands
  • Deferrals sit elsewhereThe change record lives in another system

The Solution

  1. Write a test in plain wordsThe agent reads it back as an exact rule, or says what it cannot test
  2. Test the whole populationEach test covers all its records: passed, failed, could not be tested
  3. Procedure, record and practiceEach failure beside the rule it breaks, with a source on each value
  4. The auditor writes itSized to its population; the audit manager opens the evidence and accepts

Built-in controls

  • Records that cannot be read stay counted
  • An auditor never checks records she signed
  • No agent rules a line fit to keep running

What You Get

Auditors find what a sample misses, and can say exactly what they could not test.

  • Findings with their true sizeEach one names its whole population
  • A clear limit of scopeUnread records counted and grouped by reason
  • Owner answers on a clockSame-day referrals and a response date per finding
One morning of the audit

09:17 to 09:47: one sour gas line, from the wall to the owner’s desk

A refinery’s three-yearly mechanical integrity audit is under way, with 26 days left to sign. This is one morning of it, as the audit team saw it.

demoThe refinery, its staff and its numbers are sample data.

  1. 01Before 09:17

    24,316 inspection records on one wall, and 437 of them gray

    Lead process safety auditor

    Three years of inspections, one square per record: piping, vessels, relief devices, safety instruments, pumps and tanks, a column per unit. 437 records could not be read, so they stay gray and count in each result. 12 of 15 tests are already closed by a second person. Class 1 thickness is still open, and the panel offers it next.

  2. 0209:17

    Class 1 piping in plain words: 1,181 passed, 17 failed, 8 not tested

    Lead process safety auditor

    She types the test as she would say it. The agent reads it back as a rule: piping, Class 1, thickness survey, failed when the last survey is over five years old or the record is incomplete. It runs on all 1,206 records, none sampled. The three counts add up, so the number will hold in the closing meeting.

  3. 0309:20

    Three of the 17 late circuits have a deferral and no change record

    Lead process safety auditor

    The tracer follows each failure into deferrals, change records and system logs. 14 carry a signed deferral and its change record. Three do not: a debutanizer overhead, a cold separator off-gas line and a sour gas line from the stripper overhead to sulfur recovery. They light red on the wall, tag by tag.

  4. 04Before the test closes

    Eight unread Class 1 records hold the thickness test open

    Lead process safety auditor

    The not-tested ledger gives each gray record a reason: 186 scans too poor to read, 94 with pages missing, 71 handwritten, 52 contractor reports that will not open, 34 tags that match nothing. Eight are Class 1 thickness records, and they block the test until a person reads them. Five have a better copy attached; three still need one.

  5. 0509:26

    The sour gas line reaches the owner with a same-day clock

    Mechanical integrity program owner

    The sour gas line has gone 7.6 years without a reading, and the agent’s arithmetic brings its wall to the minimum near the next turnaround. So the lead auditor sends an urgent referral before writing a word. It lands on the owner’s desk, due by 17:00, and blocks the signature until answered.

  6. 0609:38

    The deferral finding waits for a checker: 11 of 238 with no change record

    Audit manager

    The drafting agent offered the condition and the criteria only. The lead auditor wrote the cause, the recommendation and the rating, then ran the finding across all 238 inspection date deferrals: 11 have no change record, 3 of them on Class 1 lines. It joins the audit manager’s queue beside a relief test, a dispute and four records to re-perform.

  7. 07Before 09:41

    The checker reads the agent’s sum, marked as arithmetic

    Audit manager

    Accept stays off until five evidence records are open: the three Class 1 lines and two of the other eight. On the sour gas line the procedure, the record and what was done sit side by side: a deferral signed by the area maintenance supervisor only, then moved to the next turnaround by a planner’s note. Below them, a rate of 0.0096 in/yr leaves 0.132 in at oil out against 0.130 in.

  8. 0809:44

    The owner orders a thickness reading, and the finding is released

    Mechanical integrity program owner

    At 09:41 the audit manager accepted the finding and released it to the owner, with a response date. The referral offers two answers: order a reading, or not yet with a reason. The owner orders one. A work order is raised in the maintenance system; its result is not back yet, and the fitness call waits for it.

  9. 0909:47

    Across the wall, 226 failures, and 57 have nothing behind them

    Lead process safety auditor

    The last test is the plainest: anything past its limit, on all 24,316. 23,653 pass, 226 fail and 437 could not be tested. Of the failures, 97 carry a signed deferral and change record, 11 a deferral with no change record, 57 nothing at all and 61 a missing required item. The last three groups each have a finding.

7.6 years without a reading, worked out line by line

The evidence screen’s sum for the sour gas line: arithmetic on old readings, with the call on the line left to the owner.

Line of the sumValue
Rate, the higher of short and long term0.0096 in/yr
Remaining life at the last reading8.75 yr
Half of that life, when the survey fell due4.38 yr
Wall this rate would give today0.141 in
Wall this rate would give at oil out0.132 in
Minimum wall, the site’s structural minimum0.130 in

demoSample data, from the working solution. The minimum is a sample value from the site’s own table. The next real figure is the reading the owner ordered.

23,653 passed, 226 failed, 437 counted: the whole wall adds up

The wall-wide test, line by line. A failure is sorted by what stands behind it, and a record nobody could read stays in the count.

Passed23,653
Failed, with a signed deferral and change record97
Failed, with a deferral and no change record11
Failed, with nothing behind them57
Failed, a record missing a required item61
Could not be testedPoor scans, missing pages, handwriting, contractor reports, unknown tags437
Inspection records in scope24,316

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Around the wall

Relief devices, insulation checks, settings and the trail behind the audit

What the audit team opens between findings: relief devices, insulation checks, the source behind a sum.

The readings behind the sumEach value on the arithmetic opens its source: the thickness survey record, with nominal wall, controlling reading, rate, design and material.
External and insulation checksA saved test on 5,596 piping records: 5,388 passed, 24 failed and 184 could not be tested, each failure sorted by what stands behind it.
Relief devices past their interval3,486 relief device records: 3,373 passed, 51 failed and 62 not tested. Three of the failures have a deferral with no change record.
Limits read from the procedureThe lead auditor proposes and the audit manager signs. The limit for Class 1 piping comes from the site’s procedure and stays as written.
The morning on the trailEach action by a person or an agent, in order, from the first test at 09:17 to the wall-wide test at 09:47, with the trail export at the top.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Who writes, checks and answers a mechanical integrity finding

A process safety audit holds when the people who write, check and answer a finding are different people.

Lead process safety auditor
Sees
Each failure beside its procedure, its record and what was done
Signs
Writes tests and findings, with the cause, recommendation and rating in the auditor’s own words
Audit manager
Sees
The evidence records, each opened before the accept button turns on
Signs
Closes tests after a spot-check, accepts or sends back findings
Mechanical integrity program owner
Sees
Urgent referrals and released findings, each on a clock
Signs
Orders a reading or says not yet, and agrees or disputes each finding with a reason
Inspection data analyst
Sees
The gray records and why each one could not be read
Signs
Supplies better copies; as one of the team audited, writes no test
External reviewer
Sees
The finished report, read only
Signs
No signature; takes the report and its evidence file away to review
The agents

Seven agents test the records, and none may state a cause

One agent passes its work to another, and to the lead auditor when the call is a person’s.

Scope mapper

Maps the rule and the site’s procedures to the records, and raises independence conflicts.

  • Never narrows scope alone
Record reader

Reads each record and cites each value it takes.

  • Never guesses a value
  • Keeps an unreadable record gray and counted
Test writer

Turns the auditor’s plain words into a rule and reads it back.

  • Never runs what it cannot read back
  • Never changes a limit
Test runner

Runs each test on its whole population and reports three counts that add up.

  • Never drops a record
  • Never samples
Practice tracer

Follows each failure through deferrals, change records and system logs.

  • Never states a cause
  • Never rules on fitness for service
Finding drafter

Offers a first draft of the condition and the criteria.

  • Never writes a cause or a rating
  • Never sends a finding
Evidence packer

Builds the report and the evidence file from signed work.

  • Keeps unsigned text out
  • Never marks an audit certified

Fitness for service, causes and closures stay with named people

The agents read, test and trace. These calls belong to the audit team and the owner.

No agent says a line can keep runningWhether a thin line runs on is the program owner’s call, made with a fresh reading.
A cause is written by the auditorThe drafter offers the condition and the criteria. The cause, the recommendation and the rating are the lead auditor’s, and send stays off without them.
Records the auditor once signed go to someone elseFour records with the lead auditor’s own name move to the audit manager to re-perform.
An unreadable record is never droppedIt stays gray and counted until a person reads it or the report lists it as a limit of scope.
Limits come from the procedureAn audit tests the procedure, so the limits it applies are read from it and cannot be changed in settings.

What auditors ask about a mechanical integrity audit

What is a mechanical integrity audit?

A mechanical integrity audit checks that inspections and tests on process equipment were done to the site’s procedures and within their intervals, and that deficiencies were fixed. Here the auditor types each test in plain words, agents run it on the whole population of records, and those that could not be read are counted with a reason.

What does a mechanical integrity audit checklist cover?

Equipment in scope, written procedures, training, inspection intervals, what each record holds, deficiency follow-up and quality assurance. Most lines map to a test that runs on the records, so each answer is a count with its population. Quality assurance of materials stays with interviews and a field walk.

How does it handle an inspection deferral?

It follows each late inspection into the deferral, the change record and the system log. A deferral signed by a supervisor alone, with no change record or risk review, fails with procedure, record and practice shown together. One test then checks each inspection date deferral for its change record.

What happens to records nobody can read?

They stay gray on the wall and count in each result as could not be tested, with a reason. High-consequence thickness records hold their test open until a person reads them from a better copy. Other groups go into the report as a limit of scope.

Does the agent decide whether a line is fit to keep running?

No. It shows its corrosion arithmetic, labeled as arithmetic, and the screen says the call belongs to the program owner with a fresh reading. The auditor can send an urgent referral to the owner’s desk with a same-day clock.

Is this a full PSM compliance audit?

It covers the mechanical integrity element: tests, findings, owner responses, the trail and the evidence file. The other elements of a PSM compliance audit run the way the site already runs them, and the PSM mechanical integrity program stays in its own systems.

What does the audit manager’s spot-check prove?

That a person opened some of the passes before a test closed: it cannot close until each one is open. The screen says plainly that a spot-check is not statistical proof.

Can anyone change a setting halfway through the audit?

The lead auditor proposes a change and the audit manager signs it, and nothing changes until it is signed. Limits come from the site’s procedures and cannot be changed here. The spot-check size cannot fall while a test is being checked.

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Test one element
you audited last time.

We’ll walk you through your own inspection records, the failures behind them and what could not be read.

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