Terminal Chief Inspector

Chief Inspector

The Chief Inspector is responsible for leading and governing the Mechanical Integrity (MI) and fixed-equipment inspection program across Texas International Terminals. The role is accountable for the integrity management, inspection, evaluation, and regulatory compliance of pressure vessels, piping systems, atmospheric storage tanks, pressure-relieving devices as applicable, and related fixed assets to ensure safe, reliable, and compliant terminal operations.

The Chief Inspector serves as the technical authority for fixed-equipment inspection governance and is responsible for ensuring inspection plans, intervals, damage mechanisms, Corrosion Monitoring Locations (CMLs), inspection records, and integrity decisions are established and maintained in accordance with applicable API, ASME, OSHA PSM, RAGAGEP, company, and regulatory requirements. The role works closely with Maintenance, Reliability, Operations, Engineering, Projects, Planning & Scheduling, Safety, Environmental, and qualified inspection/NDE contractors.

The position focuses heavily on proactive loss-of-containment prevention, inspection program effectiveness, field verification, corrosion and degradation management, risk identification, Fitness-for-Service coordination, inspection data quality, corrective action closure, and continuous improvement of TXIT fixed-equipment integrity.

Core Values: Model and reinforce company values in all decisions and actions, ensuring safety, integrity, reliability, quality, and excellence remain central to Mechanical Integrity and inspection activities. Demonstrate strong Safety and Environmental Stewardship by proactively identifying degradation and conditions that could result in loss of containment, equipment failure, personnel exposure, or environmental impact. Exhibit Quality Focus through disciplined inspection practices, accurate documentation, technically sound evaluations, and continuous improvement. Uphold Integrity and Accountability through independent technical judgment, transparent communication of equipment condition, and ownership of inspection program performance. Foster Care for Customers, Coworkers, and Community by ensuring TXIT fixed assets are managed responsibly and capable of supporting safe, reliable terminal operations.

Mechanical Integrity Strategy and Inspection Governance: Own and maintain the fixed-equipment Mechanical Integrity inspection program for pressure vessels, piping systems, atmospheric storage tanks, and associated fixed equipment. Establish inspection requirements, intervals, methods, acceptance criteria, CMLs, damage mechanisms, documentation standards, and governance necessary to maintain equipment integrity throughout its lifecycle. Ensure inspection strategies appropriately consider design, service, operating conditions, corrosion history, consequence, and recognized industry practices.

Daily and Weekly Field & Integrity Oversight: Maintain a consistent field presence across TXIT operating areas. Review significant inspection findings, emerging corrosion concerns, temporary repairs, overdue actions, and equipment approaching integrity limits. Conduct field walkdowns to verify actual equipment condition, validate inspection records, and identify leakage, corrosion, coating deterioration, damaged insulation, structural concerns, or other integrity risks. Coordinate weekly with Maintenance, Reliability, Operations, Planning, and Engineering on priority integrity work.

Performance Optimization: Monitor Mechanical Integrity performance with focus on inspection compliance, overdue inspections, corrosion trends, remaining life, integrity finding closure, temporary repair age, Fitness-for-Service actions, and repeat loss-of-containment events. Use inspection data and risk to prioritize work, identify emerging degradation, improve inspection effectiveness, and provide leadership with clear visibility of fixed-equipment integrity risk.

Safety, Environmental and Regulatory Alignment: Ensure fixed-equipment inspection and integrity activities support applicable OSHA PSM, EPA, TCEQ, Coast Guard, API, ASME, RAGAGEP, company, and manufacturer requirements. Maintain inspection documentation, certifications, engineering evaluations, repair records, and other evidence required to demonstrate compliant and technically defensible equipment integrity decisions.

Continuous Improvement and Risk Reduction: Identify, prioritize, and implement improvements that reduce loss-of-containment risk, improve inspection effectiveness, optimize inspection intervals, strengthen corrosion monitoring, improve repair quality, and extend asset life. Ensure lessons from inspections, failures, repairs, and engineering evaluations are incorporated into inspection plans, procedures, standards, and future equipment strategies.

Technical Capability and Knowledge Transfer: Build inspection and Mechanical Integrity capability across TXIT by developing inspection standards, damage-mechanism awareness, technical procedures, and clear acceptance criteria. Provide technical guidance to Maintenance, Reliability, Operations, Projects, and contractors while ensuring inspection decisions remain independent, evidence-based, and consistent with applicable codes and standards.

Responsibilities

• Own, administer, and continuously improve the TXIT fixed-equipment Mechanical Integrity inspection program for atmospheric storage tanks, process and transfer piping, pressure vessels, pressure equipment, and associated fixed assets.
• Develop, implement, and maintain inspection plans in accordance with applicable API 510, API 570, API 653, ASME, OSHA PSM, RAGAGEP, company requirements, and other applicable codes and standards.
• Establish and enforce inspection intervals, CMLs/TMLs, inspection methods, acceptance criteria, corrosion monitoring requirements, and documentation standards based on service, damage mechanisms, condition, history, and risk.
• Identify and document credible damage mechanisms based on materials of construction, process service, operating conditions, environmental exposure, historical findings, and equipment configuration; ensure selected inspection techniques are capable of detecting expected degradation.
• Maintain and review corrosion rates, thickness data, remaining-life calculations, minimum required thickness, next-inspection dates, and condition trends to identify accelerating deterioration and assets approaching integrity limits.
• Govern atmospheric storage tank inspection requirements, including applicable external and internal inspections of tank shells, bottoms, roofs, nozzles, foundations, settlement, coatings, and associated components.
• Develop and maintain piping inspection circuits and CML programs; review thickness and corrosion trends and ensure piping degradation is identified and addressed before minimum allowable conditions are reached.
• Govern inspection requirements for applicable pressure vessels and pressure equipment, including condition assessments, thickness monitoring, remaining-life calculations, repairs, alterations, and rerating activities.
• Maintain a high level of inspection data accuracy and integrity, including inspection reports, thickness records, CML data, drawings, repair records, engineering evaluations, certifications, and inspection due dates.
• Ensure inspection findings requiring action are risk-ranked, communicated, converted into corrective work orders, and tracked through repair, inspection closeout, and verification.
• Identify equipment requiring engineering evaluation or Fitness-for-Service assessment and coordinate qualified evaluations in accordance with applicable standards such as API 579-1/ASME FFS-1.
• Maintain visibility and governance of temporary repairs, inspection extensions, engineering evaluations, and other integrity-related conditions, including documented basis, monitoring requirements, operating limitations, expiration dates, and permanent-repair plans.
• Participate in Management of Change reviews to evaluate integrity impacts associated with changes in product service, pressure, temperature, chemistry, materials, flow conditions, equipment configuration, and expected damage mechanisms.
• Support project commissioning and Mechanical Integrity handover by ensuring required inspection records, material documentation, drawings, baseline thickness data, welding documentation, NDE records, certifications, and inspection strategies are complete and retained.
• Provide technical inspection input to repair, replace, rerate, redesign, coating, material-selection, and lifecycle decisions based on equipment condition, degradation mechanisms, risk, and applicable code requirements.
• Conduct regular field walkdowns and integrity reviews to validate equipment condition, active degradation, temporary repairs, coating condition, insulation condition, supports, foundations, leakage, and other visible integrity concerns.
• Provide technical oversight of third-party inspection and NDE contractors, verifying appropriate qualifications, certifications, inspection methods, quality, safety performance, and documentation.
• Develop and maintain inspection procedures, standards, checklists, damage-mechanism documentation, CML requirements, repair/inspection records, and other technical documentation necessary for consistent Mechanical Integrity execution.
• Support capital projects, tank outages, turnarounds, piping modifications, equipment installations, and major repairs by defining inspection scope, NDE requirements, quality hold points, repair contingencies, and Mechanical Integrity handover requirements.
• Support Root Cause Analysis for loss-of-containment events, significant corrosion failures, repeat integrity issues, or other fixed-equipment failures; ensure lessons learned are incorporated into inspection strategies and corrective actions.
• Provide accurate, timely, and actionable Mechanical Integrity reports, inspection compliance status, integrity risk assessments, corrosion trends, Fitness-for-Service status, temporary repair status, and recommendations to Maintenance & Reliability leadership.
• Leverage inspection data systems, FIIX, NDE technologies, corrosion trending, and other integrity tools to improve inspection planning, risk identification, reporting efficiency, and decision-making while ensuring appropriate technical validation and governance.
• Track and analyze key KPIs, including:
  • Inspection compliance and overdue inspections
  • API 510, API 570, and API 653 inspection compliance
  • CML/thickness monitoring compliance and assets approaching minimum required thickness
  • Open integrity findings, high-risk findings, and corrective action closure rate
  • Temporary repairs, temporary repair age, and permanent repair completion
  • Fitness-for-Service actions and equipment operating under engineering evaluation
  • Inspection-generated corrective work and repeat loss-of-containment events

Expectations

• Demonstrate a high level of ownership, accountability, professionalism, technical integrity, independent judgment, and ethical behavior in all Mechanical Integrity and inspection activities.
• Maintain strong alignment with applicable API, ASME, OSHA PSM, RAGAGEP, environmental, safety, engineering, company, and manufacturer requirements when establishing or modifying inspection strategies.
• Drive measurable improvement in inspection compliance, integrity risk reduction, corrosion monitoring, corrective action closure, temporary repair reduction, and fixed-equipment reliability.
• Maintain a visible field presence and routinely engage inspectors, technicians, operators, supervisors, Reliability, and Engineering to understand equipment service, degradation, condition, and integrity risk.
• Meet established inspection, reporting, certification, engineering evaluation, corrective action, outage-support, and Mechanical Integrity program deadlines consistently.
• Challenge unexplained deterioration, abnormal corrosion rates, repeated repairs, questionable inspection data, and assumptions regarding continued service; require technically defensible evidence for integrity decisions.
• Exhibit strong analytical, communication, technical writing, facilitation, and decision-making skills while building credibility across Maintenance, Reliability, Operations, Engineering, Projects, Safety, Environmental, and leadership.
• Take initiative to identify opportunities for loss-of-containment prevention, inspection optimization, corrosion control, repair improvement, risk reduction, and lifecycle extension.
• Maintain strong attention to detail and organizational discipline while managing multiple tanks, piping systems, pressure equipment, inspection activities, outages, engineering evaluations, and corrective actions.
• Foster a culture emphasizing safety, Mechanical Integrity ownership, inspection quality, evidence-based decision-making, continuous improvement, and proactive management of degradation.
• Act as a positive representative of the Maintenance & Reliability organization by promoting collaboration, professionalism, technical rigor, independent inspection judgment, and alignment with TXIT operational goals.
• Serve as the subject-matter authority for fixed-equipment inspection governance, Mechanical Integrity, corrosion monitoring, inspection intervals, damage mechanisms, and integrity risk management.
• Adhere to established escalation protocols, MOC requirements, engineering governance, reporting requirements, code requirements, and decision-making authority.

Qualifications and Education Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Materials, Corrosion, Welding, or related Engineering discipline preferred; equivalent combination of technical education, inspection certification, and relevant fixed-equipment integrity experience may be considered.
• 7–10 years of experience in fixed-equipment inspection, Mechanical Integrity, asset integrity, refinery, petrochemical, chemical, terminal, pipeline, or heavy industrial environments, with demonstrated responsibility for inspection program governance.
• Strong working knowledge of API 510, API 570, API 653, applicable ASME requirements, OSHA Mechanical Integrity requirements, RAGAGEP, corrosion mechanisms, NDE, and fixed-equipment integrity management.
• Demonstrated experience with atmospheric storage tanks, process piping, pressure vessels, corrosion monitoring, CML/TML programs, thickness data, remaining-life calculations, repairs, alterations, and inspection planning.
• Experience coordinating Fitness-for-Service evaluations, tank and piping inspections, pressure-equipment inspections, NDE activities, repair inspections, and integrity-related outage scopes.

• Experience with CMMS and/or inspection data-management systems, including inspection records, due-date management, corrective work, asset history, corrosion trending, and technical documentation.
• Strong analytical, organizational, technical writing, communication, facilitation, and problem-solving skills with the ability to clearly communicate equipment integrity risk to technical personnel and leadership.
• Preferred certifications include API 510, API 570, and API 653. Additional beneficial qualifications include API 580, API 571, API 577, applicable NDE certifications, and AMPP/NACE corrosion or coating credentials.
• Ability to manage sensitive operational, inspection, integrity, engineering, and compliance information professionally and confidentially.

Physical Demands

• Ability to walk, stand, climb, and work throughout industrial terminal environments on a regular basis.
• Frequent exposure to outdoor terminal conditions including heat, humidity, dust, noise, vibration, marine conditions, chemicals, and changing weather.
• Ability to access tank farms, docks, piping systems, equipment areas, stairs, ladders, platforms, and elevated structures as required to perform field integrity assessments, while complying with applicable safety requirements.
• Ability to work flexible hours and provide technical support during inspections, tank outages, turnarounds, equipment integrity concerns, loss-of-containment events, and operational requirements as needed.