Visual inspection are one of the oldest and most trusted ways to evaluate the condition of an asset as part of the overall maintenance process.

The goal of a visual inspection is to find anything that might be wrong with the asset which could require maintenance.

For example, if an inspector is conducting a visual inspection of the inside of an industrial boiler, they might be looking for:

• Cracks or buckling in the welds that hold the boiler together
• Corrosion on the sides of the boiler
• Leaks or other issues with the integrity of the boiler’s walls or floor
• Issues with any of the supporting equipment that helps make the boiler run

The primary goal of finding these issues is to fix them before they get worse.

In commercial inspections like this, missing critical issues in an asset—like a crack in the side of a boiler, for example—could result in a serious accident. And that’s why visual inspections of critical assets like boilers and pressure vessels are typically conducted only by licensed inspectors who operate according to very strict guidelines, usually mandated by law.