10 March 2025
HSE, together with 9 organisations representing the offshore and
onshore oil and gas, power generation, nuclear decommissioning and
manufacturing sectors, has started a shared research project
looking into asset integrity issues associated with corrosion under
insulation (CUI).
Project partners meet with HSE to kick off shared research
into corrosion under insulation
CUI remains a significant challenge across industries, and
despite advancements in coatings, insulation materials, cladding
systems and inspection technology, it remains difficult to
accurately predict and detect. This unpredictability complicates
integrity management and creates substantial safety hazards, as
well as costly business continuity challenges.
The first project meeting took place earlier this month at the
HSE Science and Research Centre in Buxton and brought HSE together
with the project partners to share the very latest perspectives on
the topic, so that the technical work plan could commence as
initially planned.
The first phase of the project will focus on gathering
intelligence from data sets, unlocking previously unobtainable,
cross-industry insights to help inform how to prevent and manage
CUI more effectively.
This will then be followed by another set of work packages that
will explore CUI from a lifecycle perspective. These include:
- Lifecycle management - current approaches and
practices
- Inspection and non-destructive testing (NDT) technique
validation
- System performance evaluation
- Ensuring a quality installation
The research will involve empirical studies to improve safety,
reliability and operational efficiency.
Explaining the rationale for the project, Matthew Blackburn,
Operations Manager in HSE's Energy Division, said :
"Over the years, HSE has seen too many CUI failures and
near-misses in many industry sectors.
The idea for this project was conceived by HSE's frontline
specialist inspectors working in major hazards sectors, as well as
our materials specialists within HSE's Science Division, who
collectively understand many of their causes and management system
failings and wish to shape the current research and development
landscape by working with a number of key stakeholders to address
this hazard.
We want to tackle this issue in collaboration with
representatives from a broad range of industry sectors, as we
believe this will make the whole project both as unique and as
impactful as possible."
The project started in February 2025 and is expected to last 3
years.
To find out about HSE's shared research model, visit our Shared Research
webpage.