Balancing Safety and Economics A Case Study with Practical Insights for NDT Technicians

NDT and integrity management balance safety against economics—inspecting too frequently raises costs, while inspecting too infrequently risks safety. Technicians provide critical data that informs these decisions. A case study demonstrates how predictive modeling using pipeline corrosion data, corrected for probability of detection, can classify segments by criticality with high accuracy. This data-driven approach, using tools like Python, transforms raw inspection data into decision-support insights. However, actual intervals and risk tolerances must align with specific plant conditions, regulations, and asset management policies.