2/24/2020 What is Mechanical Integrity and what are the requirements of an MI program?

— Life Cycle Engineering

COMPANY SOLUTIONS INDUSTRIES INSTITUTE

RESOURCES CAREERS Custom Search

Recent Reliability What is Mechanical Integrity and what are the

Engineering Articles requirements
Ordering a new piece of of an MI program?
equipment? Make sure
you answer these 20 Mechanical integrity (MI) is just one of the 14 elements included in Process Safety
questions Management (PSM), driven by the the OSHA 1910.119 standard, but it is significant in terms of
the asset coverage involved. For example, MI includes any and all equipment/assets used to
Failure Modes and
Effects Analysis (FMEA): produce products made from specific quantities of defined hazardous materials on the list
The Heart of an covered by the PSM standard. System examples include fixed equipment such as pressure
Equipment Maintenance vessels and storage tanks, piping systems and associated hardware (valves, fittings, etc.),
Plan relief devices,vent hardware and emergency shutdown/control systems. Rotating
Is There Value in equipment/assets, such as pumps, blowers, fans, and compressors that may be used to move
Identifying Criticality of hazardous materials within these systems are also included. In many cases, this means that all
Spare Parts? equipment within the boundaries of a facility is subject to the PSM standard.
Is Your Asset Hierarchy
Out of Order?
Anyone Can Become
More Proactive, Even
Without Expensive
Equipment
Involving Operators in MI encompasses the activities necessary to ensure that equipment/assets are designed,
Your Equipment
fabricated, installed, operated and maintained in such a way that they provide the desired
Maintenance Plans
performance in a safe, environmentally protected and reliable fashion. In short, it is the Life
One Skill That Takes Cycle Asset Management (LCAM) process, including the above plus procurement, testing,
Good Engineers to Great commissioning and disposal of the assets. MI is a sub-set of an effective reliability program
Preparing for a Root and overall asset management, specific to equipment types, and more tactical in nature
Cause Analysis including the evaluation of condition requirements through regular monitoring and inspection of
the condition of these assets.

What are the requirements of an MI Program?

Organizations have worked diligently to address the PSM Rule requirements since its
inception, specifically focused on those programs related to safety and management of risk
associated with handling hazardous materials covered by the standard. However, many
continue to struggle with the Mechanical Integrity, element (j), and how it relates to an
effective Asset Management system that addresses not only safety requirements, but also
provides effective asset policy, strategy, objectives and plans to ensure best-in-class
management of assets that mitigates risk over the entire life cycle of the assets.

https://www.lce.com/What-is-Mechanical-Integrity-and-what-are-the-requirements-of-an-MI-program-1670.html 1/5
2/24/2020 What is Mechanical Integrity and what are the requirements of an MI program? — Life Cycle Engineering

The key phases of MI program development, shown in Table 2, include management

responsibility, equipment selection, and implementation through inspection, testing and
application of proactive maintenance strategies. Properly trained and certified personnel
conducting these activities are also a key part of an effective MI program.

Table 2: Key Phases of Work Necessary for an Effective MI Program Development

Management Responsibility:

“Everyone has responsibility for safety” is a phase that we often hear within a facility. It’s just as
true that “everyone has responsibility for reliability”, i.e. effective management of assets.
However, an effective asset management program must be driven from the “top down” and
effectively implemented from the “bottom up”.

Management must be visible and actively involved in a facility’s hazard management system in
order to help prevent incidents. Key responsibilities are:
Provide the right people for the job

· Set the direction through effectively communicated policy and strategy discussions
Insist that schedules are planned and met
Ensure that appropriate system controls are in place

Roles and responsibilities for the asset management processes should be well-defined using a
Responsible, Accountable, Support and Informed (RASI) matrix which is visible and well
communicated. Reports on MI compliance should be data-driven and focused around
compliance metrics and recognized gaps that need to be addressed by the site leadership.

The classic Plan, Do, Check, Act audit process should be employed to understand the
effectiveness of the MI activities. Reinforcement for proper behavior around identifying and
closing gaps to improve the program is a must, and best delivered from site leadership or
corporate management.

Equipment Selection:

Early in the development of the MI program, the boundaries for equipment within the program
must be identified. This is often accomplished through establishment of an MI Team. A
screening process to prioritize operating units within the site can also be used to direct the MI
Team to the most critical and significant value-contributing assets on site for early
consideration. This process includes:
Consistent review and application of program objectives
Application of a documented equipment selection criteria
Selection of appropriate level of detail for specific assets

· Documentation of all aspects of the program in the site’s Enterprise Asset Management or
Computerized Maintenance Management systems

https://www.lce.com/What-is-Mechanical-Integrity-and-what-are-the-requirements-of-an-MI-program-1670.html 2/5
2/24/2020 What is Mechanical Integrity and what are the requirements of an MI program? — Life Cycle Engineering

Inspection, Testing and Proactive Maintenance:

Once the scope of the MI program has been defined and equipment selected, the level of
detail of “task” to be done by asset or asset group is defined. Each task should be properly
planned and effectively executed, documented and monitored.

A logical combination of proactive technologies, along with planned inspections (preventive

tasks) consistent with current recognized and generally accepted good engineering practice
(RAGAGEP) should be defined and included in the Asset Management Plan (AMP). Review of
field data obtained through these processes should be reviewed by properly qualified and/or
certified personnel to define current or future actions required.

Personnel Qualifications:

It is obvious but must be reinforced that personnel involved in an MI program must be properly
and continually trained to bring the necessary skills to bear when considering or impacting the
health of an asset. A requirement of an effective MI program is to validate and document
training effectiveness, i.e. whether the person can execute effectively on what they just
learned. Certifications are important to ensure that your program is recognized by OSHA, your
insurance carrier or anyone conducting program audits or assessments.

Contractors, consultants and any other individual that can become engaged in the MI program
must also be trained to understand fully the hazards that are present and mitigating strategies
that are in place to manage potential incidents.

The Mechanical Integrity Process

The process that pulls all these phases and MI considerations together is shown in Figure 4.
Additional detail can be “built out” for each step in this process. The emphasis here is that
everything discussed around the key phases of MI program development is included in this
process as well as effective asset management principles, such as management
responsibilities for policy, strategy and objectives that can be molded into effective Asset
Management plans for application and use in the field.

Figure 4: Asset Management Process with MI Considerations

https://www.lce.com/What-is-Mechanical-Integrity-and-what-are-the-requirements-of-an-MI-program-1670.html 3/5
2/24/2020 What is Mechanical Integrity and what are the requirements of an MI program? — Life Cycle Engineering

This article is an excerpt from the whitepaper Using an Asset Management Framework to
Drive Process Safety Management and Mechanical Integrity , which is accessible on
www.LCE.com.

© Life Cycle Engineering

For More Information

843.744.7110 | [email protected]

Share This

CONNECT WITH LCE RECENT SUCCESS LCE BEST PLACES CONTACT US

STORIES TO WORK Corporate Headquarters
Faceboo LinkedIn Charleston, SC • 843-744-
LCE Engineers Support In 2019 Life Cycle
U.S. Navy Modernization 7110
Engineering made the list as
YouTube Twitter Efforts with Design and
Cost-Analysis of Fuel one of the best places to
Life Cycle Institute
Delivery System for LPD work in South Carolina and
Charleston, SC • 800-556-
Slidesha Podcast Class Ships in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
9589
Hot Strip Mill Regaining
Former Status General Information •
[email protected]
Ensuring Functional Air-
Conditioning Units Helps Life Cycle Engineering
to Keep Destroyer at Sea 4360 Corporate Road
North Charleston, SC
An Operational
29405-7445
Readiness Audit Helps
Supermarket Chain
Expand Production on Contact Us
Schedule

By Correctly Diagnosing a
Diesel Generator
Problem, LCE Helps the
Navy Create a Fleet-wide
Fix

For a University Hospital,

Developing an Asset
Management Program
Requires Creating a
Reliability Program

© Life Cycle Engineering All Rights Reserved | 4360 Corporate Road, Charleston, SC 29405-7445 | 843.744.7110
Resource Library | Customer Success | Privacy Policy | Sitemap

https://www.lce.com/What-is-Mechanical-Integrity-and-what-are-the-requirements-of-an-MI-program-1670.html 4/5
2/24/2020 What is Mechanical Integrity and what are the requirements of an MI program? — Life Cycle Engineering

https://www.lce.com/What-is-Mechanical-Integrity-and-what-are-the-requirements-of-an-MI-program-1670.html 5/5