Mechanical Integrity Software Carries Hidden Risks When Teams Treat It as a Black Box
According to Inspectioneering Journal, mechanical integrity software tools are increasingly complex, and teams that trust them without fully understanding their inner workings are exposing their facilities to real risk. Writing in the March/April 2026 issue, Robert Sladek of Sladek Asset Integrity, LLC describes a case where a platform migration error silently disabled corrosion rate and remaining life calculations, contributing to a fractionating tower failure.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- If you perform inspection or integrity work under an operator’s MI program, understand that the software driving inspection intervals and risk assessments may have hidden settings that affect your scope of work.
- Verify assumptions on both sides. Operators and service providers should confirm that RBI platforms and IDMSs are configured correctly, not just trust the outputs.
- Training and documentation gaps are identified as key contributors to black box risk, making competency a differentiator for subcontractors working in FEMI programs.
