How should our industry be coping with long COVID? Recently, I was copied in on a communication train where a person had been diagnosed with long COVID and this was a possible reason for them not performing as expected while undertaking an NDT test. I began to wonder how prevalent long COVID is and how potentially damaging it can be to NDT and CM professionals. Looking at the UK NHS website, the following information is available regarding the long-term effects of COVID-19:
- Most people with coronavirus (COVID-19) feel better within a few days or weeks of their first symptoms and make a full recovery within 12 weeks. For some people, symptoms can last longer. This is called long COVID or post-COVID-19 syndrome. Long COVID is a new condition that is still being studied.
- The most common symptoms of long COVID are extreme tiredness (fatigue), shortness of breath, loss of smell and muscle aches.
- There are, however, lots of symptoms you can have after a COVID-19 infection, including: problems with your memory and concentration (‘brain fog’); chest pain or tightness; difficulty sleeping (insomnia); heart palpitations; dizziness; pins and needles; joint pain; depression and anxiety; tinnitus, earache; feeling sick, diarrhoea, stomach aches and loss of appetite; a high temperature, cough, headaches, sore throat, changes to sense of smell or taste; and rashes.
There are several interesting points here, including the fact that long COVID is a new condition that is still being studied, which I suspect could change depending on the COVID variant and the individual, and the symptoms described as problems with your memory and concentration. It would be correct for you to report to your employer that you may have long COVID so the employer can accommodate the situation, with possible additional checking of your work and a less demanding work schedule while you recuperate. More information can be found at the following website, including information on the treatments that are available: www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/long-term-effects-of-coronavirus-long-covid
Personally, I did catch COVID-19 earlier this year but fortunately I wasn’t greatly affected, which may be due to me being vaccinated and keeping up with the boosters as they became available. All I can do is hope that you are not affected by COVID or, if you are, that it is a mild case.
Every now and again there will be a discussion on the similarities between NDT and CM and I think that, generally (and there are probably exceptions to this), NDT is performed at the manufacturing stage, while CM is not; however, both can be used for in-service data collection. The data from the in-service testing can then be used to populate the digital twins used in NDT 4.0, which should possibly be renamed NDT & CM 4.0.
There was a meeting organised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to discuss the issues of corrosion under insulation and it was interesting to note that some of the points raised included the full removal of insulation and not replacing it, leaving the piping systems fully visible. A drawback to this would be the possible need for extra energy (heat) required to maintain the viscosity of the products. There were concerns that good insulation was being removed and there were also concerns regarding the environmental issues around the disposal of the waste generated. There was then an issue around the replacement insulation and as to whether it was as good as the original. Another significant point was the damage caused to existing pipelines around the lines having their insulation removed, as the insulation is inevitably stood on and damaged, with the probable consequences of corrosion on these pipes. There was little discussion on the detection of corrosion other than that the piping systems could be better designed for access. The NDT methods that have a measure of success in assisting in finding issues with either actual or potential corrosion under the insulation without physically removing it include long-range ultrasonics, thermography, pulsed eddy current, radiography and possibly THz imaging. This is an ongoing issue and the HSE is taking an active interest in the problem.
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