Guide for Applying Codes and Standards for Safe Operation and Maintenance of Pressure Equipment in Refinery and Petrochemical Services

After pressure equipment (aka fixed or static equipment) is designed, fabricated, and constructed to ASME new construction codes and standards (C/S), it is delivered and placed in-service. After that the In-service Inspection (ISI) and Post-Construction C/S begin to govern. Within the ASME, the Post Construction Committee (PCC) produces and maintains the standards that govern equipment after it has been placed inservice. Within the API Standards Organization, the Subcommittee on Inspection (SCI) and the Corrosion and Materials Subcommittee (CMSC) produce and maintain most of the ISI standards and recommended practices that govern pressure equipment in the refining and chemical process industry. This paper shows how many of those ISI and PCC C/S are intended to work together to maintain the safety and reliability of pressure equipment and piping after it has been placed in service. This paper also highlights what’s new with many of these C/S that have been recently updated or newly published. Both the API and ASME use the rigorous, standardized consensus building process outlined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for formulating and publishing their respective C/S. This paper will show how users of these ISI/PCC codes and standards are benefited by the application of the ANSI consensus process.