# Inspection interval

> The inspection interval is the period between successive inspections of an asset, set by a code (for example API 510, API 570, API 653, AS/NZS 3788), by legislation, or by a risk-based inspection assessment, and expressed as a next inspection due date.

- Source: https://amps.global/glossary/inspection-interval/
- Type: Glossary
- Published: 2026-09-05
- Tags: operations, asset integrity

## Key facts

- Fixed intervals from codes: for example API 653 external inspections at least every 5 years; internal intervals from corrosion rate up to code maxima
- Risk-based inspection (API 580/581) can extend or shorten intervals based on probability and consequence
- Missed due dates are a compliance and insurance problem for asset owners and a lost job for inspection companies
- AMPS flags due inspections one month in advance

Also known as: inspection frequency, inspection due date, periodic inspection, next inspection date.

## Who tracks it

Asset owners track intervals for compliance; inspection companies track them to schedule and to win the repeat work. Both need the last report and the due date attached to the asset.

## Intervals in AMPS

The asset management case study describes a dairy plant QA team planning inspections on assets in AMPS and being notified one month in advance when an inspection is due, and an inspection company tracking gas tanks due every two years as sub-assets. In AMPS every asset and job carries a QR code. Scanning it opens the asset page and the history of jobs performed on it, assets can hold sub-assets, and jobs can be grouped, for example per shutdown.

## Related pages

- [Asset register](https://amps.global/glossary/asset-register/)
- [Risk-based inspection (RBI)](https://amps.global/glossary/risk-based-inspection/)
- [API 510](https://amps.global/glossary/api-510/)
- [Asset management in heavy industries](https://amps.global/case-studies/02-asset-management/)

## Sources

- [API - American Petroleum Institute standards](https://www.api.org/products-and-services/standards)