Infrared reports, what should be in them and what should not? If there was a one size fits all answer, life would certainly be easier! But, each type of inspection requires different information to be presented to the customer. To make things easier, here are some things that should be in any report. Each report should have a few basic elements to it including:
- Cover page: this should have the customer information, the thermographer’s information, date, and inspection type. Logos can be included and are encouraged.
- Summary page: try to keep this to one page. This is where the inspection conditions should be reported. If the conditions changed by area, list the areas and the conditions that affected the inspection. Any definitions that need to be defined, such a fault criteria alarm points, abbreviations, and terms used in the report, should also be included in this section. This is also a good place to insert your disclaimer.
- Equipment list: the list with operating condition for all assets inspected can either placed before the fault detail pages or after them, but the equipment/asset list should be included in the report.
- Fault details: each fault should be a page by itself. There are many opinions on what should be on this page. The “what”, “when”, and “where” of the equipment in the image, or that has the fault, should be included here. “What” is the fault, possible causes of the fault, and possible solutions to correct the fault. “When” and “where” should also be included in the fault details. You will also want to include information letting the customer know how critical the fault is (not the equipment) or the likelihood of failure.
- Closing page: this is a possible alternate location for the disclaimer. This is where we can list how many faults (just the number of) were located during the inspection and if there were any faults repaired at the time of discovery and did not have a fault detail page created. How many items were inspected, how many were not available for inspection, and the reason for the unavailability (no permits, equipment not accessible, unit not operational, time limits reached, or any other reason something did not get inspected) should also be included.
This is your written presentation of your inspection results, most often sent to the customer after you have left the site. So, this report needs to cover everything the customer needs to utilize the data that you have collected. It must be presented in a way that is easy to read, easy to locate items later, and needs to be able to answer the questions that you are not present to answer.
The above comments are just that, comments. I’ve written countless reports over the many years I've been preforming infrared inspections, and I've seen the “simple one-page report” grow into a more complex document that is now expected in our industry. If the reporting requirements (format) have not been agreed upon before the inspection is conducted, the above format covers most items that good, solid report should contain.