Book Club for Failures: New Date and Signup link
We have a new date and signup for the BCfF: Monday August 22nd, 4:15pm-5:00pm AEST Sign up is via Eventbrite, and the meeting will be hosted in Zoom. Sign up here. Our first session will be short (45mins), to gauge interest and check expectations. If we have time, we’ll talk about the APGA Engineer’s Practise … Continue reading →
What interests you?
My recent webinar “Failure is Normal: A Tale of Two Bridges” generated some encouraging feedback, so I could be persuaded to present more webinars, if readers indicate sufficient interest.A couple of categories of possible topics come to mind; engineering practice, and more about learning from failure. Engineering Practice1) The Benefits of Engaging Independent Consultants(A discussion … Continue reading →
Book Club for Failures
There is enough interest in Ted Metcalfe’s book list, and the idea of learning from failures, that it’s time to set up a book club. It’s a book club for people in the pipeline engineering industry, interested in learning from failures. Answering the question “what happened?”, and being better engineers and pipeliners because we’ve paid … Continue reading →
External Interference: why we focus on preventing it
The link below goes to a news article and video, showing a real incident of external interference, which occurred in June 2022, in the UK. https://au.news.yahoo.com/watch-builder-miracle-escape-gas-pipe-explosion-111710226.html This link may not be functional forever. I have a copy of an mp4 file, and will post it if this link stops working. A fencing contractor is doing … Continue reading →
Unplanned Outcomes, Stories, and the Intent of our Standard
by Ted Metcalfe It may have been Einstein who famously said “The more I learn, the more I realise how much I don’t know.“ More simply put, “We don’t know what we don’t know”. Gaining awareness of things which have not turned out well for others helps us to get better at what we do … Continue reading →
Gaining Confidence
by Ted Metcalfe Do I know what I’m talking about? Experienced engineers are able to make engineering judgements with confidence. Some of the reasons why pipeline engineers using AS2885 may benefit from asking a question in relation to confidence include: 1) Maybe you are required to make a decision in relation to application of the … Continue reading →
Asking Questions is the Easy Way to learn
Be a better pipeline engineer – ask the question! by: Ted Metcalfe We learn new information in many ways, and for many different reasons. Even when we are not trying to learn, or don’t think we need to learn, we seem to gather valuable information. For some people, lessons are really only learned if they … Continue reading →
Accumulating Knowledge
by Ted Metcalfe. Ask the question! Some of the reasons why pipeline engineers may benefit from asking a question in relation to accumulating knowledge include: 1) Maybe the matter you are working on is a bit out of the ordinary, and you are not sure exactly which part of the Standard should apply. ….Which clause … Continue reading →
Failure is Normal …. and Bridges can fail more than once!
APGA has advertised for our next technical webinar, via an email sent today (Monday 16 May). The webinar will be on June 15, 2022, at 12:30pm AEST presented by Ted Metcalfe. Get on over there and sign up via the APGA events website. https://www.apga.org.au/events/technical-webinar-failure-normal The title is: “Failure is Normal”. This is a concept that … Continue reading →
Venting pits, and the value of AS2885.info
There was a recent query about the requirements of AS 2885.1 for venting below-ground structures such as valve pits. It turns out the Standard is incomplete, because an editorial change in 1997 inadvertently omitted a key sentence and no-one noticed until 25 years later. Subsequent revisions of the Standard had applied the “ain’t broke, don’t … Continue reading →
Pigging a lined pipe – response (and a record-keeping caution)
The previous post gathered a number of helpful responses from experienced industry people. But before getting to the technical responses there is an interesting sub-text to this topic, relevant to everyone in the pipeline industry. None of the following is intended to be critical of the current operator, quite the contrary – they have recognised … Continue reading →
Pigging a lined pipeline
A question has been submitted to AS2885.info which is outside the experience of the team, so we thought we see if someone else out there is able to help: A transmission pipeline was previously wire-brush pigged on a few occasions in the last 30 years. However the current operator has recently realised that the line … Continue reading →
Principles
One of the difficult things about being an engineer (…besides everything you’ve just thought of…) is being able to recognise your own competency. Knowing your own competency is essential, especially in high-risk industries like pipelines and other potentially hazardous industries. Similarly, knowing the competency of the others around you is essential too. Not often contemplated … Continue reading →
Pipelines / Pipeline Engineers / Pipeliners / Project Engineers working on pipelines
Many years ago, when I had been working as a pipeline engineer for about 10 years, I started asking the question of people around me, “just what is a pipeline engineer?”. In asking the question, I wanted to understand what was meant when they asked for a pipeline engineer… what were the expectations? I wasn’t … Continue reading →
Pipelines, PECS and AS2885
Pipelines are buried out of sight and out of mind. They crisscross our cities and farmlands and deserts. They carry energy or water or slurries or other liquids and gases from source to destination. Pipelines transporting energy have had a stellar century, with millions of kilometers of pipelines now installed all over the world. … Continue reading →
Oops
A minor but important correction to the post on Use of alternative Standards: Towards the end of the second-last paragraph a vital “not” was left out. The affected sentence should read “Similarly ASME IX is written to meet the requirements of various standards including ASME B31.3 but does not meet all of the requirements of … Continue reading →
Use of alternative Standards
A recent addition to AS885.info answered a question about weld procedure qualification using other Standards. This provides a nice opportunity to address a broader issue that is perhaps under-appreciated. A general principle is that it is not appropriate to pick and choose from a mix of different Standards covering the same subject. Rather a single … Continue reading →
Welding matters
A new section has been added to AS2885.info to cover questions about welding, with five entries already (scroll down towards the bottom of the home page). Most topics relate to Part 2 but there are already a couple of questions arising from in-service welding and inspection under Part 3. Other welding questions are welcome.
Learning from the Mistakes of Others
From Ted Metcalfe – a longish read but well worthwhile and thoughtful as always … We’re not good at sharing stories in the Australian pipeline industry, and in my opinion that is a weakness we should address. I recently drafted the short article which is now available on AS2885.info, setting out some examples of how … Continue reading →
Conformance webinar – a late report
After the webinar on 4 August this blog reported on it very briefly here, and then Ted Metcalfe wrote the following comprehensive report that was inexcusably mislaid for a while. But better late than never … In difficult times, we need a safe means of holding important industry conversations, and technical webinars have emerged as … Continue reading →
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