2/28/25, 8:12 AM API RP 581 Risk-Based Inspection Technology: 4th Edition Changes

INSPECTIONEERING JOURNAL

API RP 581 Risk-Based Inspection Technology: Summary of

Changes in the Newly Released Fourth Edition
By Lynne Kaley, Director of Reliability Strategy at Pinnacle, and James Farrer, Corporate RBI Specialist at
Marathon Petroleum. This article appears in the January/February 2025 issue of Inspectioneering Journal.

Document History Summary

The initial Base Resource Document Final Report (BRD) was published in May 1995
to an API-led Sponsor Group project. The document was updated and revised as
development continued until the release of the BRD First Edition, which was
published by API in May 2000. The first edition included qualitative, semi-
quantitative, and quantitative RBI technologies that were developed as a part of the
Sponsor Group project. The second edition of API RP 581 was released by the
Sponsor Group project in 2008 as a recommended practice. The second edition was
provided to a newly formed API RP 581 as the basis for the third edition document.

Edition releases since 2008 were as follows:

The third edition was released in April 2016.

The first addendum to the third edition was released in April 2019.
The second addendum to the third edition was released in October 2020.
The fourth edition was released in February 2025.

Overview of Changes in the Fourth Edition

These are the significant changes made to the Fourth Edition since the release of the
second addendum to the Third Edition in 2019.

The Fourth Edition document was revised and reorganized to the following Parts and
Annexes:

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Part 1 – Risk-Based Inspection Methodology

Annex 1.A—Bibliography
Part 2 – Probability of Failure Methodology
2.A – Management Systems Workbook
2.B – Determination of Corrosion Rates
2.C – Determination of Internal Stress Corrosion Cracking Susceptibilities
2.D – Determination of External Damage Susceptibilities
2.E – Mechanical and Metallurgical Susceptibilities
2.F – Levels of Inspection Effectiveness
2.G – Bibliography
Part 3 – Consequence of Failure Methodology
3.A – Basis for Consequence Methodology
3.B – SI and U.S. Customary Conversion Factors
3.C – Bibliography
Part 4 – Inspection Planning Methodology
Part 5 – Special Equipment
5.A – Bundle Weibull Approach (for heat exchangers)
5.B – Bibliography

As a part of the reorganization, all informative references have been moved to a

separate bibliography annex for each Part. Normative references remain as a section
of each Part.

Part 1 – Risk-Based Inspection Methodology

Part 1 was renamed to recognize the addition of a new Part 4 to address the specifics
for inspection planning. Sections of Part 1 were also moved to support the inspection
planning discussion in Part 4. Part 1 includes Terms, Definitions, Acronyms, and
Abbreviations for the document and provides an overview discussion of probability of
failure (POF), consequence of failure (COF), and risk.

All references to the API 581 methodology were changed from quantitative to semi-
quantitative methodology.

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Consequence of failure and risk analysis have historically been reported in terms of
area (damage area) and financial (combined cost of damage, injury, and production
impact). The fourth edition introduces and outlines a new safety-based consequence
of failure and risk, which represents the impact of injury. An iso-risk plot has also
been added for safety-based risk.

Part 2 - Probability of Failure Methodology

The Management Systems approach was completely revised by a task group of

primarily owner-users. The rewritten audit tool is provided in Annex 2.A. The
Modification Systems Factor Equation (2.9) was modified.

The separate liner module was eliminated and integrated into the Thinning Module
Damage Factor calculation in Section 4.5.7, Step 3. Tables 4.7 Internal Liner Types
and 4.8 Lining Condition Adjustment Factors as a part of the modified liner
calculations. In the previous edition approach, the Liner Factor was calculated
outside of the Thinning Module Damage Factor calculation. The separate calculation
had some errors when adjusting the service age based on liner life. In addition, no
credit was provided for inspection to mitigate risk. Integrating the internal liner
handling into the Thinning Module corrects liner service age adjustment and
provides a method for crediting inspection to mitigate risk.

Other changes in Part 2 are as follows:

All damage mechanism flow charts were updated to match step-by-step

calculations.
Annex 2.A Management Systems Factor Audit tool revised.
Annex 2.B Determination of Corrosion Rates:
High-Temperature Sulfidic and Naphthenic Acid Corrosion includes
changes to guidance for assigning corrosion rates and consideration for
corrosion rate variability.
High-Temperature Sulfidic and Naphthenic Acid Corrosion note for
handling high-velocity services.

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Section 2.B.14 Tank bottom corrosion AST references changed to storage

tank with the addition of API 620 tanks to the module.
Annex 2.C Inspection Effectiveness was moved to Annex 2.F.
Annex 2.C – Determination of Internal Stress Corrosion Cracking
Susceptibilities:
Table 2.C.9.2 for Environmental Severity of HIC/SOHIC-H2S Cracking
modified for consistency with NACE standards.
Section 2.C.10 Sulfide Stress Cracking (SSC) guidance added for
environmental conditions in Description of Damage.
Section 2.C.11 and Table 2.C.10.2 for Environmental Severity of SSC
modified for consistency with NACE standards.
Annex 2.D, Table 2.D.3.3 – Corrosion Rate Adjustment Factor for Insulation
Type modifications to insulation types and adjustment factors
Levels of Inspection Effectiveness moved from Annex 2.C to Annex 2.F.
Section 2.F.5 modified atmospheric storage tanks to include 620 tanks.
Section 2.F.11 was added to support steam system component inspection.
Annex 2.G Bibliography was added.

Part 3 – Consequence of Failure Methodology

Consequence of failure analysis for safety-based COF was added to the existing area
and financial-based approaches (Section 3.6, Table 3.2, and Section 4.1). This
analysis allows the determination of the consequence of failure as a result of injuries.

Other changes in Part 3 are as follows:

Section 4.3.3.c changed the recommended default discharge coefficient, Cd, from
0.9 to 1.0 for sonic gas/vapor releases.
Section 4.5.2 was revised to clarify and correct the determination of release
types.
Section 4.8.8 was modified to simplify equations for continuous and
instantaneous release calculations in Steps 8.9 through 8.11.
Table 4.2 was modified for AlCl3 properties.
Table 4.17 tank bottom edge component was added.

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Replaced Figure 4.2 with a continuous/instantaneous logic diagram to be

consistent with Section 4.5.2.
Annex 3.A, Section 3.A.5 were modified to include 620 tanks in addition to
atmospheric storage tanks.
Annex 3.C Bibliography was added.

Part 4 – Inspection Planning Methodology

A new Part 4 was created to document the recommended inspection planning

procedure. This part includes sections moved from Part 1 that are relevant to
inspection planning.

Part 5 – Special Equipment

Part 5, Section 5.6 Pressure Relief Devices was revised and restructured to provide
clarity and correct errors in the documentation. The specific changes are as follows:

Section 5.3.5.a, Equation 5.99 was modified to limit POF to a maximum of 1.0.
The approach was also expanded to include multiple design margins, which are
included in Table 6.10.
Table 6.7 was modified to include Level of Inspection confidence factors for the
no inspection case. These changes corrected results where the no inspection case
risk was lower than inspection cases.
Table 6.9 equations were modified to correct results with inspection updating.
These changes corrected results where the B inspection case risk was lower than
the C inspection case.
Table 6.11 was added to provide constants for design margins provided in Table
6.7.

In addition, Section 5.7 was added for risk analysis of Steam Equipment. Annex 5.B
was added to include Bibliography.

Future Enhancements
Activities needed for inclusion in the Fifth Edition:

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POF and COF improvements – Task groups are working on ongoing POF and
COF module technology improvements.
API document alignment – The task group is working on alignment of 581
terminology and content with other associated API documents for consistency.
Quantitative POF – The current document is a prescriptive semi-quantitative
methodology. The addition of consideration for using quantitative POF
approaches will provide more specific inspection recommendations using RBI
techniques.
COF Release by damage type – The task group will consider a research effort
project to evaluate COF releases by damage mechanism type.
Damage Mechanisms – The addition of thinning and cracking mechanism
guidance that is currently not provided in the Fourth Edition.
Inspection Recommendations – Improvement of inspection planning
recommendations for specific equipment inspection plans. Develop risk
mitigation through inspection effectiveness for damage types not currently
provided.

The API 581 committee is open to members interested in contributing to the ongoing
methodology improvements. We also encourage other API committees to provide
high-level summaries of changes with new edition releases to provide clearer
transparency so that organizations can quickly understand the updates and facilitate
change.

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About the Authors

Lynne Kaley, Director of Reliability Strategy at Pinnacle
Lynne Kaley, Director of Reliability Strategy at Pinnacle, has over 30 years of refining, petrochemical, and
midstream gas processing experience. Lynne was an owner/user plant metallurgist/corrosion and corporate
engineer for over 10 years and has 20+ years consulting with plant management, engineering, and
inspection departments, including Risk-Based technology (RBI) development leader, the... Read more »

James Farrer, Corporate RBI Specialist at Marathon Petroleum

https://inspectioneering.com/journal/2025-02-27/11449/api-rp-581-risk-based-inspection-technology-summary-of-changes-in-the-newly-rel 6/7
2/28/25, 8:12 AM API RP 581 Risk-Based Inspection Technology: 4th Edition Changes

James is the co-vice chair of the 581 committee and the Fifth Edition master editor. He has 19+ years of
experience in the refining/petrochemical industry and has been immersed in Risk-Based Inspection since
2014. James is currently the Corporate RBI Specialist for Marathon Petroleum. Read more »

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