A plant Inspector is responsible for investigating plants, operating units and processes against the necessary rules and regulations to ensure full compliance. The plant inspectors typically work in the integrity department or inspection unit of the oil and gas or chemical plants and are responsible for carrying out inspections in accordance to the pre-defined timelines which normally are periodic external inspections, out-of-service inspections or shutdowns. The importance of a plant inspector’s role lies in prevention of asset failure and providing reliable evidence of due diligence for equipment safety and failure prevention.
What is a plant inspector and what does a plant inspector do?
Plant inspectors have a diverse and interesting role. They act as the primary interface between inspection and integrity engineering team to manage and report on the status of all in-progress inspection, integrity and corrosion monitoring activities at a plant.
A plant inspector is expected to have a wide-ranging knowledge of technical issues relating to in-service and out-of-service inspection of ageing assets in process plants, terminals, refineries, power stations etc. They are able to carry out unsupervised inspection tasks in the field, supervise supporting personnel (e.g. NDE contractors) and write inspection reports to be presented to the asset owner. The experienced plant inspectors play a role complementary to the engineers and as a technical authority they are able to give technical supervision and aid in decision making.
The job of a plant inspector can include various duties and responsibilities amongst the most common ones are:
- Observing and monitoring equipment to ensure conformance to specifications and to recommend necessary process or assembly adjustments.
- Writing test or inspection reports describing results, recommendations, or needed repairs.
- Interpreting legal requirements, provide safety information, or recommending compliance procedures to contractors, craft workers, engineers, or asset owners.
- Discussing inspection results with asset owners, and recommending necessary corrective actions.
- Supervising Non-Destructive testing activities as well as fabricating, installing or connecting components, parts, or instruments for testing or operational purposes.
Which Industries do plant inspectors Work in and what are the skillset needed?
Most plant inspectors land jobs in the oil and gas, petrochemical or power industries.
The skillset required for a successful Plant inspector includes:
- Delivering inspection report after a thorough evaluation of a specific procedure/ process
- Coordination, documentation and reporting of inspection activities
- Plant inspection skills including inspection of storage tanks and pressure vessels
- Competency in nondestructive testing (NDT) and welding inspection as well as basic knowledge of damage mechanisms and RBI. Proficiency in the English language and basic mathematical skills.
CSWIP Plant Inspector Certificate
As the demand for integrated asset management within process plants increases and taking into account the ever-evolving plant systems complexity and the legislative background in the EU and overseas, a need for a formal Plant Inspector certification scheme was recognised. To be effective, a certification scheme needs to ensure that Plant Inspectors have sufficient training and practical experience before being adjudged competent to perform statutory or non-statutory inspections on engineering plant.
Similar to other roles and professions in the industry, plant inspectors are normally required to hold a certification to prove their competence. This is something not only required by clients, but also what’s becoming more and more prevalent is people have to do a competency check.
It is expected that CSWIP Plant Inspectors can carry out unsupervised inspection tasks in the field, supervise supporting personnel (e.g. NDT contractors) and write inspection reports. The qualification for any inspection field is not for life and normally candidates have to renew or recertify their competence to make sure that they are competent. This is something that shall be done every 5 years.
CSWIP certification is internationally recognised throughout the world and CSWIP Plant Inspector scheme which is available in fully eLearning format is offered by TWI globally.