Corrosion Management System

Corrosion and corrosion management is always an  interesting topic in oil and gas industry.   There is widely misunderstanding between Corrosion Management and Corrosion Engineering. Corrosion management has been defined as “part of the overall management system, which is concerned with the development, implementation, review and maintenance of the corrosion policy.” (HSE UK, 2001). Corrosion engineering may be defined as “application of science and art to prevent or control corrosion damage economically and safety” (Fontana, 1987). In this sense, corrosion management and corrosion engineering are two discrete components, even though they are very closely interrelated with each other (Morshed, 2007).

Swiss cheese model, which is widely used in risk analysis and safety management, may be used to describe the relationship between corrosion management and corrosion engineering. The each  corrosion engineering component, such as monitoring technology, inspection, chemical dosing, materials selection and design, is like a slice of cheese (barrier). Each slice, or particular corrosion engineering component, will have their limitation and weakness.  The corrosion management is a system to assemble these slices (corrosion barriers) together to prevent the failure.

Corrosion engineering may be defined as “application of science and technology to prevent or control corrosion damage economically and safety” (Fontana, 1987). Corrosion management has been defined as “part of the overall management system, which is concerned with the development, implementation, review and maintenance of the corrosion policy.” (HSE UK, 2001). Therefore, corrosion management system is to identify, establish and maintain such corrosion barriers to prevent the failure and unsafe release of hydrocarbon.The key of successful corrosion management system is a self-improved helix process with strong interface feedback loop, which is illustrated in the model depicted in  “Review of corrosion management for offshore oil and gas processing” (HSE UK, 2001)

Corrosion management system ( by HSE UK, 2001)

Please see more discussion in corrosion management in my Corrosion Management Blog.