Leak-Avoidance: The Route to Joint Integrity Assurance	Time: 2:45 PM	Room B
Paul Holland, Hydratight The holistic approach to asset management seeks to improve safety and environmental performance. This approach has identified gasketed joints as a major cause of leaks, raising the need for understanding the concept of joint integrity assurance and in particular the requirement to apply more control throughout the design and assembly process. Analysis demonstrates that the cause can be grouped into three categories: before construction (design), during construction, or in service. In particular, correctly specifying closure procedures and improving the competence of the personnel concerned can eliminate many of the causes. These causes are compounded by the emerging trend to specify lighter and smaller bolted connectors to replace the traditional coded flanges. These connectors require careful observance of the manufacturer’s installation and closure instructions and are far less tolerant of abuse or misuse. The Paper will discuss the implications of this analysis, the lessons to be learned, and propose a risk-based methodology that operators have and can adopt to ensure plant start-up and subsequent production is leak free. The Paper will also explain how this methodology fits within a comprehensive joint integrity management system that should meet the requirements of the most discerning operator.