In every process plant, refinery, or water treatment facility, there are hundreds or sometimes thousands of valves that control the flow of steam, gas, chemicals, and effluent. However, at many facilities, staff still depend on a maintenance engineer’s memory, or possibly a faded felt-tip marker on a card, to know what each valve does. When there is an emergency shutdown, this isn’t good enough – and this is exactly why facilities managers should pay much more attention to engraved valve tags and pipeline identification systems.

In the UK, BS 1710 outlines the regulations for pipeline content labels that include color coding and lettering. The standard exists because mislabeled or unlabeled pipes are a safety threat rather than a cosmetic issue. This combined with the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations and obligations of the Health and Safety at Work Act illustrate that clear and long-lasting identification of valves and pipes is not just operationally useful but also legally required. Over the life of a plant, permanently affixed engraved tags will provide operators and inspectors with more certainty, and therefore compliance with operational requirements, than printed labels or handwritten tags.

When analyzing the environment surrounding tags, it becomes clear why engraving is often favored over printing. Tags will be exposed to steam, oil, UV light, washdown chemicals, and vibration, resulting in printed labels fading, peeling, and becoming illegible. Tags made of anodized aluminum, stainless steel, or laminated Traffolyte do not have this issue because the surface of the material is engraved and will keep their markings for as long as the asset is working. It is even more important in regards to engraving tags for valves during lockout-tagout procedures where the technician is required to determine the isolation point in mere seconds.

Successful projects around tagging valves often come down to good referencing and numbering systems. A tag that is labeled “Valve 14” only has utility if an asset register or schematic exists. Ideally, it would allow technicians to access it with minimal disruption to their flow. More and more, facilities are implementing a combination of human-readable engraved references and barcodes or QR codes on the same tag which link to a digital record of the asset, maintenance history, or isolation procedures. This is a reasonable compromise as the engraved reference will remain readable whereas the code will facilitate easier record-keeping for scheduled maintenance audits.

Choice of materials should be dictated by process conditions rather than old habits. For outdoor piping, marine and wash down areas, and corrosive environments of all sorts, stainless steel is a no-brainer. Engraving laminates and Traffolyte are less expensive, lighter, and better for indoor use. Therefore, they are a good choice for control rooms, switchgear, and internal pipe runs where less mechanical wear is expected. For high temperature lines, deep engraved anodised aluminium tags, as opposed to adhesive tags, are generally better as the substrate adhesive tends to fail due to thermal expansion.

As a part of a larger asset integrity plan, the facilities manager should provide an overall strategy rather than a one-time labelling solution. Tags should always be changed to reflect modifications made to the pipework, process changes in the plant, and during periodic audits for safety. Correctly specified materials with unambiguous referencing at the beginning is very beneficial in saving time and reducing risk. A specialised engraving supplier is recommended if a company intends to purchase pipeline identification tags and engraved valve tags in bulk. This is because the engraving, references, materials, and fixings are all customised to meet the specific requirements of the site.