Note to self: Language is important

Today was a day of drama for our crew. I, for one, was feeling under the weather. After taking care of some things in the morning, I spent the rest of the day in bed.

But I got off lucky. Someone else in our group was sent to the hospital with a rather nasty-looking elbow. Turns out it was infected.

As for conference news, Joe Pikas of our Houston office moderated the (ECDA), one of Corrosion/2007's most popular forums. The forum focuses on External Corrosion Direct Assessment (ECDA)). This direct assessment process uses sophisticated above ground tools, called Indirect Inspection Tools (Indirect Inspection Tools), to find areas along a buried pipeline that are corroded or are at risk for corrosion. Gas pipeline operators generally use this process.

The forum spent the bulk of the day discussing changing the language on a footnote to an appendix chart in RP 0502. The footnote says (and I'm paraphrasing here) these tools shouldn't be used without special consideration. Unfortunately, these considerations aren't detailed, and the Department of Transportation (DOT), which regulates pipelines, focuses on the “not to be used” language.

The writers of the regulation, many of whom were at the meeting, didn't intend to preclude these tools from being used. They merely wanted to note that special considerations might be warranted.

After two hours of discussion, the members decided to change the language to “these tools may be used with special considerations.” Another hour was spent deciding how to implement a change within NACE’s standards process.

Where's efficiency when you need it?