Apidays New York 2024 - Scaling API-first by Ian Reasor and Radu Cotescu, Adobe
Rope Access: Avoiding Spills into Navigable Waters
1. Avoiding Spills into Navigable Waters
Presented by
Steve McGuire
Vice President, Rope Access Services
January 2013
QualSpec San Francisco Area Office 124 Parker Avenue, Rodeo, California 94572
Phone: 510-799-0305 Fax: 510-245-1728 smcguire@qualspecgroup.com
2. Using Rope Access to Perform
Cleaning, Nondestructive Testing
and Remediation of Corrosion
3. Regulatory Bodies
Inaccessible piping over water is heavily regulated by many
agencies for the concern of spills into waterways and
surrounding environmentally sensitive areas.
• State Lands Commission
• Department of Fish and Game
• US Coast Guard
• US Fish and Wildlife Service
• US Army Corps of Engineers
• Regional Water Quality Board
• Conservation and Development Commissions
• To name but a few!
3
10. Wharf Data Summary
Recently, six out of six wharfs whose piping was examined required
immediate remedial attention.
10
11. You Can’t Afford to Miss This Damage
A hands-on approach and utilizing rope access has proven to be a
reliable, safe and cost-effective method for evaluating piping over water
11
Loss Prevention, Through Improved Inspections No one wants a failure, especially into our waterways or surrounding areas. With offshore and marine oil terminals being the lifeline to many refineries, this poses a great dilemma. Many of these piping systems are situated in non-cost-effective locations or are simply inaccessible using standard methods.
It doesn’t matter who you are – external corrosion is an ever-growing concern due to the aging of our systems. In the past, piping over water has been inspected using boats or walkways with little success, or using floating or fixed staging at a serious expense. With the advancement of technology, techniques such as long range ultrasonic testing have tried to cover the gap.
Today, companies are addressing the accessibility, inspection and corrosion mitigation needs of these piping systems by using rope access. Rope access provides a hands-on, safe and cost-effective alternative.
Skilled technicians, certified in the required disciplines, can safely remove and clean corroded areas, and then measure and record accurate remaining wall thicknesses.
They can also coat the required areas per the manufacturer’s guidelines.
In addition to performing the inspection between supports, rope access teams can safely lift the piping at each of the supports.
This enables the technician access to each contact point for a thorough inspection of the entire line.
Recently, six out of six wharfs whose piping systems were inspected using this hands-on rope access method required immediate attention to some extent, with as high as 42 percent of the areas recorded requiring repairs.