Vibration-induced fatigue on process pipework

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority of Australia (NOPSEMA) has published the following safety flash regarding a discovery, during a recent inspection at a facility, of vibration-induced fatigue cracking and evidence of rectification work carried out on several small bore connections on seawater cooling pipes. The operator of the facility initially did not report the incident as a dangerous occurrence (damage to safety critical equipment), as it was considered only a ‘minor weep’.

The potential dangers of vibration-induced metal fatigue or other vibration-induced damage to materials and equipment go beyond just process pipework on oil and gas installations and could have much wider implications for IMCA member’s. For this reason IMCA is passing this safety flash onto its members.

The safety flash can be downloaded from nopsema.gov.au/assets/alert/Alert-58.pdf

Safety Event

Published: 20 February 2014
Download: IMCA SF 02/14

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