The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1355-2511.htm

Business
Business performance and performance and
maintenance maintenance
How are safety, quality, reliability, productivity
and maintenance related? 183
Venkatraman Narayan
Effective Maintenance Ltd, Aberdeen, UK

Abstract
Purpose Process plant safety, asset integrity, reliability, quality, profitability and maintenance are
traditionally compartmentalized, each being treated as a stand-alone subject. The purpose of this
paper is to examine whether they are closely related, with common drivers of performance. This
allows us to consider a holistic approach that is effective and economically viable.
Design/methodology/approach In achieving business performance targets, the focus is often on
technology and hardware. The human interface is not always given sufficient importance. This paper
attempts to show that sustainable performance depends on achieving a proper balance.
Findings Focusing on just three drivers reliability, productivity and sustainability good results
can be facilitated in terms of quality, process safety, and profitability. Working on individual initiative
alone is not sufficient and all the links in the causal chain have to be strengthened.
Practical implications There are several factors that affect the above drivers. By managing these
factors effectively, high performance can be achieved over the lifetime of the business. An integrated
plan of action is thus preferable to flavour-of-the-month initiatives.
Originality/value The paper shows that combining the technological and human behavioural
aspects brings a holistic approach. The links shown between maintenance, reliability, quality, asset
integrity, process safety and profitability provide a business focus. A discussion of these concepts with
professionals and experts can help create a solid foundation for lasting improvements.
Keywords Business performance, Maintenance, Reliability, Profitability, Process safety, Behaviour,
Integrity, Sustainability
Paper type Conceptual paper

Introduction
An assets reliability (and thus, integrity) is determined right from the design stage;
weaknesses can enter at the design, installation, commissioning and operational
phases, due to human errors and decisions made that can have unintended
consequences. Competence and behavior can affect equipment and production process
performance.
Asset reliability depends on the reliability of people, production processes and
equipment. Errors can affect all three elements.
The productivity of people is usually measured as the ratio of actual to estimated
resources. In the maintenance context, it determines downtime duration and resources.
The first lowers revenues and the second raises costs. In both cases, they affect
profitability adversely.
Safe and profitable operations are expected through the life of the asset. That Journal of Quality in Maintenance
determines the return on investment, so we also need sustainable performance. Engineering
Vol. 18 No. 2, 2012
We will examine the factors that drive reliability, productivity and sustainability. pp. 183-195
Managing these drivers will help reach optimal business performance. When any r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1355-2511
initiative is proposed, we should evaluate how it can improve at least one of these three DOI 10.1108/13552511211244210
JQME drivers. The right order is to get reliability under control, followed by sustainability
18,2 and then productivity.

An explanation of terminology
The terms used in this paper will be familiar to readers, but there may be shades of
interpretation that differ. So that we start with a common platform of understanding,
184 we will discuss some relevant terms. Readers may choose to skip this section and refer
to it if the term or its context is unclear.
Quality is something we believe everybody recognizes and understands, but there
are numerous definitions with variations in meaning. Let us look at some of the
generally agreed attributes of quality. A quality product, information or service is
one that:
. meets or exceeds the customers stated or implied expectations and/or
predetermined performance standards;
. does this consistently, over a long period;
. has a sense of value to justify its price;
. anticipates constantly evolving expectations;
. performs predictably, i.e. no surprises; and
. ultimately wows the customer who comes back for more!
We can see that it has subjective and objective dimensions and can be a moving target.
We can measure quality, though it is qualitative and depends on individual
perceptions.
When an expectation is implied, it is possible to misinterpret it, so the seller may
need a crystal ball to read the customers mind. If these expectations evolve with time
(compare e.g. what we wanted from a car 30 years ago to that we expect today),
the seller must hit this moving quality target over a long period of time. Is it then
surprising that quality is a concept that is not easy to define or articulate clearly?
In this paper, we will focus on two aspects of quality. One relates to the quality of
people and the other to that of the system output.
The term system means the combination of the people, process and plant facilities
that produces the goods, services or information that the customer wants.
The safety of people, environment and assets is an important prerequisite for the
success of any enterprise. While personal safety is important, process safety is
even more so, as its breach could result in major disasters, potentially with multiple
fatalities. A loss of asset integrity leads to process safety disasters such as BP Texas
City, Piper Alpha, Bhopal and Sayano Shusenskaya (see Narayan, 2011, Chapter 8),
for a description of some of these events. When we refer to safety issues in this paper,
it is in the context of process safety.
Asset integrity ensures that equipment performs effectively, so that people
and the environment are protected from foreseeable harm. This requires that the
required system (as defined before) is in place and actively used over the life of
the asset.
Reliability is a mathematical concept, defined as the probability that an item will
continue to perform its intended function for a stated period of time, understated
conditions of use. In simple terms, reliable items are those that do not fail in service for
long periods. The concept can be applied to the performance of equipment, people and
processes. In this paper, we will discuss the following reliabilities: design, human, Business
equipment and process reliability. performance and
Design reliability describes what was built initially into the asset. That depends on
the selection of the right conceptual design, technical production process, configuration maintenance
and build quality. The design must meet the functional requirements, have correct
materials of construction, be installed and commissioned correctly. This level of
reliability is integral to the design and cannot be exceeded during the items operating 185
phase without some form of redesign.
Human reliability contributes significantly to all aspects of reliability, including
those at the design, operating and retirement phases. Human errors contribute to over
three quarters of failures during the life of equipment. People with the required
competence and motivation form the backbone of reliable systems.
In the view of Deming (quality guru), production process reliability is best achieved
by controlling variability. Operating the process within the limits set by the design
envelope and avoidance of rapid changes help minimize shocks to the system. This
improves equipment reliability and longevity as well as product quality.
Maintenance according to British Standard BS EN 13306-2010, is the combination of
all technical, administrative and managerial actions during the life cycle of an item,
intended to retain it or restore it to, a state in which it can perform the required function.
Equipment can be in one of two states in an operating or an idle state. If at any
time it is not working, that may be an operators decision to shut it down, or when
the equipment shuts itself down. In the first case, it is a proactive decision, because the
equipment is either not needed, or because some work has to be done on it. When
the equipment stops due to a component failure or trip, we are forced to react to the
situation.
The strategies available to the maintainer are based on the risks posed by the
failures. Each failure mode is handled on its merits by addressing its potential
consequences and by the type of failure (evident or hidden, age-related or not). This
approach results in the following options:
(1) when the potential consequences are very low:
. allow the item to run-to-failure (RTF).
(2) when the potential consequences are not acceptable, minimize them by one of
the following:
. measure the condition and intervene before failure occurs condition-based
maintenance (CBM);
. statistically predict the time to failure and take pre-emptive action time (or
age)-based preventive maintenance (PM);
. test for hidden failures, or detective maintenance; and
. when no suitable task is available, design out the failure.
(3) risk-based processes used to determine these tasks include:
. reliability-centered maintenance (RCM); the standards that are relevant are
SAE JA 1011 and JA 1012;
. risk-based inspection (RBI); the API Recommended Practices RP 580 and RP
581 are the prevailing guidelines; and
. safety instrumented systems (SIS); the relevant standards are IEC 61508 and
IEC 61511.
JQME While proactive maintenance does result in high reliability, variability in the
18,2 performance of people, process and the quality of materials and spares can introduce
failures. We have to identify and eliminate the underlying causes, so that similar
failures never occur again. To do this we use root cause analysis (RCA). It is a
structured and systematic process, entirely based on evidence. Since it prevents future
occurrences of failure, it is also a proactive process.
186 Reactive maintenance refers to work that did not get the benefit of prior thought.
Trips and breakdowns (excluding those based on an RTF strategy) fall in this category.
Such work is emergent. Although we might predict its happening, the when will
usually take us by surprise. Organizing and executing such work usually takes longer
and is more expensive than planned work. It also disrupts the smooth flow of planned
work, since resources need to be diverted to tackle emergent work. Equipment
downtime is usually 50-100 percent more than for planned work, as spares, materials
or skills may not be readily available at the time the work emerges.
Operability describes how easy it is to start up, operate and shutdown the
equipment. It is a design feature that covers layout, ergonomics (matching access
and reach to the physical size of the operators), equipment complexity, instruments and
gauges, built-in diagnostics, labels, procedures, drawings and documents. Equipment
designed with operability in mind can produce products of the right quality in the
expected volumes, consistently.
Maintainability is a measure of how quickly failed equipment can be restored
satisfactorily. It is also a feature built-in at the design stage.
A number of things have to be in place for good maintainability: good access to
parts needing replacement or adjustment; ease of fault diagnosis; lay-down areas;
standardized fasteners/fixtures (variety control of tools); crane and lifting-gear access;
spares; drawings; documentation; logistic support; and competent supervision. There
are illustrations of these in Narayan (2011).
A feature of good project management is a comprehensive data handover to the
operating team. Technical asset data, bills of material, spare parts inter-changeability,
lead time/prices of spares and consumables as well as vendor contact information
are essential to maintain the facilities effectively. Ideally, the project team should
hand over the asset register complete with all this data entered accurately into the
computerized maintenance management system (CMMS). Thereafter, we need to keep
this data up to date and relevant. Good data availability improves operability,
maintainability and reliability.
We use process safety safeguarding systems to protect the production process from
hazards. These systems may be proactive, detecting unsafe conditions and initiating
actions to bring it to a safe state. If that fails and an unwanted event takes place,
reactive damage limitation systems take over. As examples, consider over-speed trip
devices in turbines, high (liquid)-level trips on gas compressor suction vessels, or
reverse current relays on large generators. These systems trip the protected equipment
and bring them to a safe condition when the stated hazard is detected. If these devices
fail, a serious event such as equipment damage or loss of containment may occur. The
event can then escalate, resulting in injury, fire, explosion or all of these. To prevent
such escalation, we have damage limitation systems such as shutdown valves, deluge
sprinklers and fire trucks. Process safety failures can lead to severe losses, as in the
disasters mentioned earlier. The reliability of process safety systems is thus vital.
The maintenance business process ensures that maintenance is organized, executed,
analyzed and improved in a systematic and orderly way. Planning, scheduling,
execution, performance analysis, verification of safeguarding equipment, change Business
control, failure elimination and data capture/information flow are all important parts performance and
of this process. A quality assurance process is applied to each of these elements giving
clarity to roles and responsibilities. maintenance

Business objectives
Businesses provide goods or services to the community, adding value to raw materials 187
or data, and by distributing these to reach the customer at the right time and place.
Their profitability is a measure of the value added by them.
Profitability is an important objective, not just in the immediate future, but also over
the lifetime of the business. This requires an ability to meet or exceed the consumers
changing expectations. By itself, that is not enough; the business must have a good
track record in managing safety and environmental issues. Society demands that as a
minimum requirement and will withdraw the license to operate from the business if it
defaults on this condition.
We can now identify the key parameters that enable the business to meet its
objectives, as follows:
(1) high uptime, i.e. high reliability, good maintainability;
(2) adequate product/service quality;
(3) operating costs, of which maintenance costs form a significant portion, are as
low as practicable; and
(4) safeguarding systems work on demand, but only on demand.
At first sight, it may appear that managing all of these at the same time is extremely
demanding. There may be conflicting drivers for each of them leading to compromises.
The prevailing approach is to optimize each item separately, using bespoke tools.
Consider the range of tools available, e.g. JIT, RCM, Kanban, RCA, Six Sigma,
Kaizen, SIS, Lean and RBI. They are often initiatives that are useful and effective
in their focus areas, but sometimes thought of as silver bullets that can solve all
problems.
Working top-down, a holistic approach can be more useful. If we can find drivers
that are common to some or all four parameters, we could work on them with greater
confidence, selecting appropriate tools to match requirements.
We will explore the practicability of this thesis in the discussions that follow.

Asset integrity and process plant safety

The BP Texas Refinery explosion and fire in March 2005 resulted in major loss of life
and property. James Baker, former US Secretary of State led the The BP US Refineries
Independent Safety Review Panel (2007), which observed that:
Preventing process accidents requires vigilance. The passing of time without a process
accident is not necessarily an indication that all is well and may contribute to a dangerous
and growing sense of complacency. When people lose an appreciation of how their safety
systems were intended to work, safety systems and controls can deteriorate, lessons can be
forgotten, and hazards and deviations from safe operating procedures can be accepted.
When systems and controls deteriorate, everything can come together in the worst possible
way. Equipment malfunctions and controls fail. An explosion and fire occur. People lose their
lives or suffer horrible injuries. Families and communities are devastated.
JQME A process plant or equipment that is in operation is fairly safe, so our objective must
18,2 always be to retain steady operations. If it is shutdown for any reason, planned or
unplanned, it is vulnerable. A trip or process upset also creates potential hazards. Reliable
plants experience few trips or breakdowns. They are less vulnerable to safety or
environmental hazards. Hence their integrity remains high. Second, reliable equipment
means that the safeguarding system works on demand, and that unwanted (spurious) trips
188 are minimal. The result is that the plant is not exposed to the hazards mentioned above.

Asset reliability
The three elements of asset reliability are as shown in Figure 1.

Human reliability
Human reliability depends on a number of factors being in place and working together
as shown in Figure 2.
Competence is an essential part of human reliability. We evaluate the skills
and knowledge to operate and maintain the plant and compare them with those
available. Then we arrange suitable training and development to fill the gaps.
Providing procedures, documentation and drawings that workers can understand
raises their competence. A sense of ownership brings pride in work. Pride and
competence result in quality.
Our objective is to encourage the right behaviors. Several factors such as company
culture, social or domestic situations, and personal problems can affect a persons
behavior. We have limited control on many of these, but we can influence an important
one, namely, motivation.
Motivation is an internal driver of performance. The emotional state and how
people feel affects their motivation. Their domestic and social situation, beliefs, pride in
their work, relationship with their peers and supervisor are some of the complex issues
involved. Pride in work influences most people favorably. Constructive and prompt
feedback, both positive and negative, delivered in an appropriate way motivates
people. An element of fun is a strong motivator and often comes from good team spirit.
When people are allowed to take work-related decisions and have the required
authority, their satisfaction rises. Most of us like to learn to do our current jobs better,
or to branch out into new territory. These enable upward mobility in the hierarchy.
This learning can often be done on the job. Supervisors who facilitate rather than boss
over, help staff learn rapidly. Training and mentoring show people we are interested in

Process
Human reliability Equipment
reliability reliability

Figure 1. Asset
Elements of asset reliability
reliability
 Business
Procedures Training Experience Personal performance and
Motivation
situation
maintenance

Knowledge Skills 189

Competence
and quality Behavior

Human
reliability

Note: The arrows indicate the general causal direction. The stated origin nodes may Figure 2.
Factors affecting
influence some other effects as well; we will focus on the main cause and effect logic human reliability
shown in the diagram

their success; that motivates them. A good work-life balance is always attractive,
unlike one that imposes strain on domestic harmony. Locations that do not offer good
schooling, health care, recreation or employment opportunities for spouses are less
attractive than others. Fairness in the benefits package is important. Salary and
perquisites by themselves are poor motivators; indeed they can become significant
demotivators if applied unfairly.
A common response to poor behavior is to punish the worker, but that rarely
succeeds. It is better to focus on the underlying causes. Finally, others cannot change
our behavior; that is something only we can do ourselves. Helping people realize
how their behavior affects the teams performance usually works. A vital first step is to
make behavior outside the desired norm visible.
Expecting to achieve perfection from an imperfect human is unrealistic.
However, there are some practical steps we can take to improve human reliability.
These include e.g.
. design to minimize errors, using the poka-yoke approach, which minimizes
errors by allowing things to fit only in one way e.g. match-marked flanges;
. provide simple, well-illustrated procedures;
. ensure that the infrastructure is adequate;
. carry out job safety analyses and discuss them in toolbox talks; and
. ensure that tools, lifting gear, etc. are suitable for the job.
JQME Engineers usually go into their chosen profession because they enjoy the hardware
18,2 aspects; many engineers treat people like goal-seeking machines and get frustrated
because people do not respond like machines. Few engineers major in soft skills. But
they must learn to do so, if only to minimize errors.

Process reliability
190 Process reliability is the next area of attention. There are a number of things operators
can do to improve asset eliability, as indicated in Figure 3 (some links are not shown for
clarity).
The list below has details of what we want from operators:
. take ownership of their equipment; start, stop and operate equipment as
advised by the manufacturer;
. operate within the prescribed design parameters;
. ensure changes are made gradually, i.e. are bumpless;
. stay vigilant and react promptly to unusual situations;
. manage deviations/changes using change control procedures;
. test safeguarding equipment on time;
. communicate well with maintainers;
. provide tender loving care at all times to their equipment;
. keep the work area clean and tidy; and
. release equipment to maintenance per agreed schedule.
Operators, maintainers and their line managers must spend a part of their time
walking in the plant area, using their senses to identify noises, smells or visual

Operations/
Care of Minor House Deviation
maintenance
equipment maintenance keeping control
communi-
cation

Ownership

Good
operation

Figure 3.
Factors affecting Process
reliability
process reliability
abnormalities. Gauge and instrument readings measure parameters, but people on the Business
spot can interpret them, draw conclusions and take decisions. performance and
Equipment reliability maintenance
Equipment reliability is the third element of asset reliability, though people sometimes
think of it as the only one. It depends on the design, installation and commissioning, as
well as the quality of operations and maintenance. 191
Good reliability of equipment means failure-free performance of both production
process and safeguarding systems.
Approaching the inherent equipment reliability requires us to:
. ensure the asset register is correct and up-to-date. This step is an important
prerequisite (Narayan, 2011, Chapter 12);
. good design, installation and commissioning are the starting points, and provide
the baseline values. This is often not within the control of the operating team;
. do the scheduled maintenance work on time. Compliance is the key to success, as
illustrated in Narayan (2011, p. 326). Aim for a compliance 490 percent;
. follow the total productive maintenance principles keep the equipment clean,
properly lubricated, joints tight, equipment properly aligned and balanced;
. apply the correct maintenance strategies, using e.g. RCM, RBI and SIS, schedule
and prepare work systematically; ensure equipment is released and returned on
time; eliminate failures progressively, tackling high-risk events first; and
. use condition-based inspection and maintenance processes to identify health of
the assets and to minimize surprises.

Infrastructure required for high reliability

Some things must be in place to enable consistent high-reliability performance. The
asset register must be complete and current. Operators must own their equipment,
providing due care, and carry out cleaning and minor maintenance (first-aid). Both
operators and maintainers need prompt access up-to-date drawings and
documentation. Both should appreciate the need for good data entries in the CMMS.
Good communication between operators and maintainers builds trust and confidence.
A culture of failure elimination and teamwork helps greatly. All this is facilitated by
supportive supervision.

Sustainability
We would like to enjoy good performance over the lifetime of the facility. For this
purpose there are three areas of focus.
The relevant factors are charted in Figure 4 for clarity.
The first factor is behavior, which we have discussed earlier. Next we have to
manage consistency. Competent people who behave correctly still need encouragement
and support. Supervisors who provide training and guidance when needed, give
prompt usable feedback and generally facilitate rather than boss over workers succeed
in getting consistent results.
The third factor is the management of the work volume and flow. The management
guru Stephen Covey (2004), states that many people normally focus on urgent and
important problems the fire-fighting events. Next they tackle urgent but unimportant
JQME Manage
Supportive
18,2 supervision work
volume

Proactive
approach
192
Plan,
Competence schedule
and quality Behavior Consistency work
preparation

Figure 4.
Factors affecting Sustainability
sustainability

items such as interruptions caused typically by phone calls or attending meetings that
do not have clear objectives. Some waste their time on unimportant work that is not
even urgent. These are often pleasant activities e.g. gossip at the coffee machine. Very
few of us focus on what is important but not urgent. These include visualizing and
planning, building relationships and preparing for long-term issues that others
have not even sighted. We call this pro-active work. In Coveys view, we should choose
proactive work as far as possible. Invariably it will reduce the fire-fighting demands.
Ron Moore (2001), in his analysis of maintenance success factors in top performing
companies, says that the most striking feature about them is the very low level of
reactive maintenance of about 10 percent, compared to about 50 percent for the average
performer. Further, a 10 percent increase in reactive maintenance correlated with a 2-3
percent drop in uptime.
The first step in managing work volume is to decide in advance the work required.
The use of risk-based tools like RCM or RBI, can help greatly, but good judgment will
often be sufficient initially. Scheduling the work to minimize production losses follows.
These actions ensure we produce the required results day after day through the life
of the facility.

Productivity
There is a misconception that productivity is merely a question of beating the drums
faster, slave galley style! Studies show that it is really more an issue for management
than workers, as it requires the elimination of delays and wastage. That is something
largely within the control of management. Good work preparation ensures the timely
availability of permits, resources, spares, tools, etc. at site. It also ensures that the site is
prepared, scaffolding is in place and equipment made safe and ready for carrying out
work. Supporting engineering disciplines are notified to be available at site at the right
time to avoid waiting for delays.
We have discussed a two-pronged approach reduce the work volume by good
planning, then scheduling it properly to minimize resources and downtime. Finally, we
prepare the work and eliminate time and resource wastage. This ensures that scheduled
 Business
Manage
work performance and
volume maintenance

193
Proactive
approach

Plan,
Incresed Lower
schedule
percentage of reactive
work
preparation proactive workload
work

High High Fewer Figure 5.

Productivity breakdowns Factors affecting
compliance reliability
productivity

work gets done on time, resulting in high compliance. That improves equipment
reliability and fewer failures. Reactive work reduces, so the proportion of proactive work
increases. Most of the work is then planned, scheduled and prepared, increasing
productivity continuously. This is cycle of continuous improvement, as shown in Figure 5.
Some breakdowns or trips may still occur in spite of our best efforts. These can be
eliminated progressively by failure analysis, using RCA, and creating a culture that
will not accept continuing failures.

Maintenance costs and profitability

The process we have discussed so far shows the causal links between the various
drivers and end results. Costs themselves are consequences of our actions, and based
on the decisions we take.
We have seen that inherently reliable equipment, well operated and maintained will
have few failures. The use of proactive risk-based tools like RCM, RBI and SIS helps
find the correct maintenance tasks, their frequency and sequence. This sets the
minimum threshold of maintenance work. The use of RCA to analyze and eliminate
unwanted events such as trips and breakdowns, which creates work beyond this
threshold, brings the work volume back in control. Good work preparation eliminates
delays and ensures speedy execution; this raises productivity, decrease downtime and
resource usage. As a result maintenance costs fall to the lowest sustainable level
consistent with the risks being managed.
High uptime generates an opportunity to raise revenues. Low downtime and
maintenance costs means the overall costs fall. Both effects contribute to profitability.
JQME Personal Supportive
Manage
Procedures Training Experience Motivation work
18,2 situation supervision
volume

Knowledge Skills Proactive

approach

194
Plan,
Competence schedule
and quality Behavior Consistency work
preparation

Figure 6.
Factors leading to the
main drivers of Human
reliability Sustainability Productivity
performance

Factors common to the main drivers

The factors affecting the main drivers of performance, namely, human reliability,
sustainability and productivity are shown in Figure 6. We have already discussed the
details individually.
These identify the levers to pull, and enable us to manage the business systematically,
retaining control throughout.

Summary
Our goal of sustainable business performance requires a number of things to work
well. Some are within our control, others less so, though we can influence even these to
our advantage. The causal link charts help us to define the detailed areas of attention.
We noted that process safety and profitability are the main outputs we desire over
the lifetime of our assets. To achieve these goals, we have to manage asset integrity and
uptime, as illustrated in Figure 7.
Our attention is directed to the three drivers that we must manage sustainability,
asset reliability and productivity. Peoples behavior influences two of them, reliability

Sustain- Asset Produc-

ability reliability tivity

Asset
integrity Uptime

Figure 7.
Links between main
drivers and desired Process Profit-
end results safety ability
and sustainable performance by introducing variability. Consistency and a sense of Business
pride are influenced by many factors, largely outside our control. Recognizing this performance and
situation can help us adjust our own approach to help others to improve their behavior.
Improvement initiatives are necessary, but should be sequenced correctly to maximize maintenance
their impact and minimize excessive demands on scarce resources. A unified approach
as described in this paper can help organize the initiatives systematically.
195
References
(The) BP US Refineries Independent Safety Review Panel (2007) Baker panel report, available
at: www.bp.com/bakerpanelreport
Covey, S.R. (2004), The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Free Press, New York, NY.
Moore, R. (2001), Making Common Sense Common Practice, Butterworth-Heinemann,
Burlington, MA.
Narayan, V. (2011), Effective Maintenance Management Risk and Reliability Strategies for
Optimizing Performance, 2nd ed., Industrial Press Inc, New York, NY.

Futher reading
Evaluation Criteria for Reliability Centered Maintenance Processes SAE standard JA 1011, 1999.
A Guide to Reliability Centered Maintenance SAE standard JA 1012, 2011.
API Recommended Practice 580, Risk Based Inspection, 2009.
Risk-Based Inspection Technology, API RP 581, 2008.
Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems,
IEC 61508, 2010.
Safety Instrumented Systems for the process industry, IEC 61511, 2004.

Corresponding author
Venkatraman Narayan can be contacted at: eml@effective-maintenance.com

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
Copyright of Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering is the property of Emerald Group Publishing
Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.