Why? A Question for All Inspectors

Why?" is the question that should be always in the mind of the curious inspector…

The inspector, whether from the Inspection agency or Insurance Company or the Operator, owner /user must always ask this question whenever he discovers any discrepancy during inspections?

The inspector's job is not finished when the corrective action is recommended to correct an obvious problem discovered during an inspection; there is more. The inspector must ask, "Why did this happen?"

Go through the following situation as an example.

An inspector discovers crack in the fireside of a mud-leg in a firebox-type steam boiler and recommends repair by welding.

In this case, if the question, "Why did the plate crack?" is not asked, then only the symptom will be corrected and the root cause of the problem will remains untouched.

If the question is asked, further investigation may reveal that the mud-legs are packed with scale, Of course it would be required that the boiler be cleaned of scale before the weld repairs are made.

If a second question, "Why is there scale?" is not asked, then another symptom would be corrected without rectifying the root of the problem.

When the cause of the scaling is investigated, it would most likely be discovered that the boiler is using excessive make-up water. Again, why? After pressing further, the investigation reveals that the condensate return pipe is leaking. It would be recommended that the leaking pipe to be replaced.

The investigation continues, only to uncover that the pipe leaked because of internal corrosion. It is now recommended that water specialist advice to be sought. The specialist determines the boiler water requires treatment not only for preventing scale in the boiler, but also treatment of the condensate and pre-boilers systems to inhibit corrosion.

The inspector recommends that the boiler water treatment program be closely monitored and adjusted as necessary.

If the inspector had stopped thinking, "Why?" at any point during the investigation then only the symptoms would have been corrected but the problems would be recurring.

Inspections routinely evolve into investigations with symptoms of a problem providing the clues to the inspector. Only by asking, "Why?" at each steps of the investigation will the inspector identifies the root causes of the problem and be able to recommend the proper and complete corrective action.