ASSET INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT

An asset is said to have integrity when it is operated and maintained so that the
combination of the likelihood of failure and the consequence of failure makes the
risk to people, to the environment, and to the company as low as reasonably
practical. The integrity of the plant, safety as well as reliability are major concerns
to managers and operators within the plant. (Anon., 2012). The implementation
of an Asset Integrity Management Plan seeks to accomplish safe, reliable,
efficient and silent running operations. This is possible through identifying risks
and ensuring they are minimised or eliminated. This is achieved through ensuring
competent personnel are available to operate as well as maintain the facilities
(Ramrattan, 2016). Owners, operators and stakeholders of any engineering asset
should ensure that the asset integrity management (A.I.M.) plan is embedded
into the objectives of the organization and is implemented efficiently and
effectively for the duration of the asset’s lifecycle. (Aboegla, 2017). Implementing
and embedding an A.I.M. plan will ensure that risks are better understood while
placing focus on reducing the potential for high consequence low probability
events. Better management of safety critical equipment would then result in less
downtime and an increase in the plant availability. Thus, the company’s returns
and effectiveness would increase. Hence, the asset integrity management
process is a process of assessment control and monitoring which should include
the following key elements (Ramrattan, 2016) :
Risk assessment of potential hazards and threats from physical
components and operations to personnel, the environment and the asset.
Identification of the required mitigation and barriers to lower the resulting
risks to “As Low as Reasonably Practicable” (ALARP) level.

Figure 9: Enablers of A.I.M.

1. Control and monitoring

The asset integrity management is controlled and monitored to meet the
standard requirements of the local regulation. For example, the statutory regime
applicable to U.K. offshore oil and gas processing facilities place a requirement
on the operators to maintain the integrity of the facility. Hence, it is essential to
have strategies in place to control the integrity. The purpose of these strategies is
to give guidance as to what methods should be employed in order to control
deterioration impacts throughout the asset’s lifecycle. Furthermore, considering
risk-based framework will assist in delivering a healthy integrity management
strategy provided that the risk profile are established. Factors to assist the overall
performance of this enabler include:
Regular reviewing of strategies which include design and fabrication
details, inspection, monitoring, maintenance and repair records of any existing
modification.
Updating the integrity management strategy, which includes the various
control activities and their frequencies based on risk assessments.
 Defining control and monitoring requirements to mitigate the identified
risks.

2. Maintenance management
The maintenance management system (MMS) is designed to standardise the
organization, scheduling, conducting, recording and analysis of maintenance
tasks. It is essential in ensuring safe, successful management of capital assets.
Establishing a MMS is important in order for an organization to satisfy financial,
operational and regulatory and safety goals. The MMS is designed in such a
way that it is integrated into the objectives. Objectives include:
Maintaining the condition, functionality and operability of the machinery
inventory.
Increasing maintenance personnel skills/ work experience
Increasing plant/system/equipment reliability and availability.
Reducing failure incidence or Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
Reducing downtime after failure or Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
Reducing critical incidents/near miss incidents.
On completion of the maintenance work order, the workflow process of closing
work orders should be followed as per the specified procedure and by authorized
persons. The workflow process should comprise of reviewing, signing off and
storing data into software databases. Reference may be drawn to spare parts
and materials used to carry out maintenance tasks in order for stock to be up to
date. Making note with regards to used spare parts, material or the removed
components will aid in collecting accurate data for the process of feedback
improvement. Maintenance records and historical reports help in improving the
asset integrity management as it provides ability to access the quality of data
entry, the level of achievement objectives, trend analysis of condition monitoring,
equipment failure mode frequencies and root cause analysis of failures.

3. Management of quality and audit.

Assessing the effectiveness and improving engineering assets are based on the
management of quality and audit. It is known as a framework in guiding an
organization towards improvement in performances and organizational
excellence. Management of quality and audit should be designed in such a way
that every aspect of asset integrity management is embedded into a process.
The results of an asset’s tasks and activities should be continually reviewed,
monitored and used to modify existing procedures. Subsequently the loop of the
Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is closed and improvements as well as
recommendations are made.