It’s Time to Pay Attention to the Condition of Your Passive Fire Protection and the Potential Risk it Hides

By: Justin Nickel – Corporate Marketing Director

INTRODUCTION

When was the last time you thought about the condition of your Passive Fire Protection (PFP)? Do you know if you have Corrosion Under Fireproofing (CUF) issues? Are you in compliance with OSHA regulations and/or Industrial Requirements? Is your facil­ity, your people, or a vital piece of equipment/structure at risk due to degradation of the fireproofing you currently have in place? These are questions that every facility should be able to answer.

Unfortunately, companies often neglect the condition of their fire­proofing and allocate more time, effort, or attention to Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) than CUF. The problem with this philos­ophy is that CUF is a hidden monster that can put your people and your facility at risk. It’s out of sight and out of mind. Are you willing to let another day, month, or year pass before you take the initiative to inspect your fireproofing for CUF? Fireproofing plays a vital role in the overall safety of your facility and, left unchecked, could also play a vital role in its destruction during a fire.

Hopefully by now you are thinking about the current condition of your fireproofing and the possible risk it represents. You may also be trying to figure out when your fireproofing was last inspected. The important thing to remember is fireproofing must be mon­itored to maintain its integrity as well as the reliability of what it protects. Determining fireproofing requirements for petro­leum or petrochemical facilities requires an experience-based or qualitative risk-based evaluation that includes developing fire scenarios. – Continue Reading