If you operate with storage tanks, regular inspection shouldn’t be optional but a crucial part of business operations. It’s the best way to safeguard your company’s interests, manage risks, and ensure compliance. Regardless of the products you store, choosing the right inspector when it’s time to inspect factory oil tanks (this is commonly referred to as ตรวจถังน้ำมันโรงงาน in Thai), wheat silos, and other raw material storage ensures your assets are handled properly, saving your business time and money.
Why Professional Storage Tank Inspection Is Crucial
Having your storage tanks inspected professionally is not only for compliance purposes; it is also for the well-being of your business.
Having regular and professional inspections saves businesses the headache of repair or replacement and helps them better strategise on expanding storage spaces without the need for expansion. This is because wider and bigger is not always the solution. With efficient management of the tanks, businesses might only require space optimisation instead of construction or expansion.
To stay prudent, here is why professional inspections are paramount:
- Avoid failures, leaks, corrosion, and other structural damage that is more expensive to fix than to prevent.
- Contributes to environmental protection since leaky tanks can contaminate soil and groundwater, especially those used to store toxic substances. Professional inspections can identify existing and potential leaks, plugging up what could be major ecological damage.
- Maintaining compliance with domestic and global standards is imperative.
- Identify minor issues before they become expensive problems that can set you back thousands of financial resources
- Prolong the service life of storage tanks through early detection and repair of minor structural laws or small corrosions, which can be disastrous when left unchecked.
- Provide recommendations or solutions that will help you maximise your tanks’ storage capacity.
What You Should Know When Choosing a Storage Tank Inspector
While there are many professional inspectors, not all of them may deliver exceptional results, which is why it’s essential to be critical in the selection process. The process may take longer, but due diligence is beneficial for your entire operation.
Certifications and Qualifications
Given the nature of the job, the inspector you consider should have the proper training and certifications, which guarantee that the work will be carried out safely and to the highest standards.
- Look for certifications, such as American Petroleum Institute (API), ASNT Level 1, 2 and 3, and the American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) if you need a non-destructive test carried out.
- Check and verify local licence and registration for compliance. When dealing with hazardous materials, the inspector should have the relevant permits.
- Ensure that machines and testing equipment meet international standards backed by appropriate certifications
Experience and Expertise
The more experience an inspector has, the more issues they have probably encountered and mastered dealing with.
- Find out how long they have been inspecting industrial oil tanks and similar machinery. The longer they’ve been in the business indicates a deeper understanding of the entire process, from the type of tank to its pros and cons.
- Check an inspector’s level of experience with regards to working with the type of tanks you have, whether they’re set above ground, underground, steel, or fibreglass to ensure they know your specific tank’s unique risks and requirements inside and out.
- See if they can provide you with a list of past clients or inspections, which findings can help guide your decision-making process.
Inspection Technology and Techniques
A professional inspector should have the latest and accurate equipment, as well as those that will ensure safety. You want to get accurate reporting, which can only happen with the use of technology that can handle accurate and comprehensive assessments.
- Consider specialists who employ non-destructive testing (NDT), such as ultrasonic or magnetic particle testing, and even radiography.
- Ask if they have a digital reporting system and whether it offers a comprehensive, easy-to-understand list of findings.
- When working with bigger or hard-to-reach tanks, check if the inspection will use specialised tools and equipment to collect data.
Inspection Coverage
Every inspection company has a different set of inclusions and exclusions, and it’s your responsibility to choose a service provider that covers your specific inspection needs.
- Comprehensive inspections, as the name suggests, look into every nook and cranny where a problem might hide, which includes the piping layout and internal components.
- Custom inspections are offered based on a tank’s specific requirements, risk profile and other details that may not be checked with the standard process.
- Verify if the service covers interior or exterior components or both. It often takes longer to check a tank internally as there’ll be additional steps involved, such as emptying it completely beforehand.
Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management
Navigating the regulatory landscape is a complex task that a good inspector can help simplify.
- Check that an inspector is knowledgeable with Thai regulations, especially with storage tank inspections, workplace safety, and environmental protection. Their advice on compliance requirements should save you from any form of headache and liabilities.
- Ask if they can provide a thorough risk assessment of all your storage tanks, taking into account the age and integrity of tanks, potential failures, and environmental conditions.
- Help develop and implement best practices for mitigating risks and ensuring long-term compliance.
Reporting and Recommendations
This is where every data and insight provides you with a clear view of the big picture, which is why the inspection report must be detailed but easy to understand and implementation-ready.
- Provide detailed documentation of all findings, complete with pictures, measurements, NDT results, and other data that will give you a clear picture of what’s really going on with the storage tanks.
- Offer clear recommendations based on the findings, which may include repair and maintenance needs, further investigation, and even outline which recommendation must be prioritised.
- List attributes that clearly show whether a tank’s still in good condition, needs maintenance or repair, or must be replaced to meet compliance or industry and operational standards.
Safety Culture and Practices
The inspector you consider should treat safety as sacred, especially when dealing with storage tanks in hazardous industrial environments.
- Ask about the safety protocols and procedures they follow on-site and when working with hazardous and flammable items.
- Check that they receive regular safety training or carry out risk assessment before every inspection.
- See if they can provide you with incident reports, which will showcase their safety record during past inspections.
Choosing the right storage tank inspector isn’t just about compliance but a step to guaranteeing your company’s performance, safety and long-term efficiency. Think about it; failure to properly check a storage tank in food manufacturing can mean product recalls and major losses. It’s best to prevent any problem than do damage control where the company’s reputation and integrity are jeopardised and may be irreparable. On that note, consult NDT Thai for your storage tank inspection needs.
