Description:
Engineering Critical Assessments (ECA) have been incorporated into United States pipeline safety regulations as a means for reconfirming the Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP) for onshore steel gas transmission pipelines, while Engineering Assessments (EA) have been a longstanding method for proving consistent conclusions and recommendations across a variety of situations in accordance with the guidance in Canadian (CA) standard CSA Z662:191. While both ECAs and EAs are established practices with their own minimum standards and regulatory requirements, they each follow different progressions to satisfy their respective applications.
This paper outlines the key differences between the EA and ECA approaches, and proposes a consolidated approach that is applicable to circumstances where EAs or ECAs may be employed.
Date Published: April 27, 2023
