Pipeline operators are responsible for the assurance and management of safety in the operation of their energy transportation pipelines.
Ensuring safety requires that operators consider every aspect of their pipeline operations, including:
- sound system design;
- selection and use of qualified materials;
- proper construction;
- thorough and adequate inspection, testing, maintenance and repair;
- continuous system monitoring and control;
- operations conducted by trained and qualified workers;
- implementation of damage prevention best practices;
- identification and mitigation of risks; and
- coordination and preparation for emergency response.
Integrity Management
PHMSA administers the national regulatory program to ensure the safe transportation of gas and hazardous liquids by pipelines. PHMSA has traditionally carried out its responsibilities by issuing minimum standards and enforcing them uniformly. However, more recently, PHMSA has issued and begun enforcing more stringent regulations affecting the ways pipeline operators manage the integrity of their pipelines that could affect high consequence areas (HCAs). HCAs include high population areas, other populated areas, areas unusually sensitive to environmental damage, and commercially navigable waterways. These new integrity management rules require operators to identify and address specific risks that could affect HCAs, rather than continuing the traditional application of uniform standards regardless of risks.
More information about regulations affecting pipeline integrity management can be found at http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/iim/.
Maintenance
Operators are required by regulations to maintain their pipeline systems at minimum levels of safety and must develop, document and implement specific procedures in carrying out their maintenance programs. Whenever an operator discovers any condition that could adversely affect the safe operation of its pipeline system, it must correct that condition in a timely manner. If a condition is discovered that could present an immediate hazard to safety and health or the environment, the operator is required to shut down the pipeline system until the condition can be corrected.
Operator maintenance programs must be reviewed annually to insure the procedures are effective in assuring pipeline safety.
Leak Detection
Central Coordination and Control
Modern pipeline systems are operated from computerized control centers which coordinate operations throughout the system; from rate of flow, to pressure, to the opening and closing of valves. The control centers monitor devices that can alert operators to abrupt changes in operating parameters, providing a detection mechanism enabling quick response to emergency conditions. Satellite and telecommunications links connect control centers with facilities along pipelines to assure rapid response and constant monitoring of pipeline conditions.
Patrolling and Leak Surveys
Pipeline operators are required to periodically inspect their pipeline rights-of-way to look for signs of leakage and activities on or adjacent to the ROW that could potentially impact pipeline safety. Special emphasis is placed in areas that leakage could have more significant impact. Patrol programs for visually inspecting the ROW are carried out by walking, driving and flying along the ROW.
Training & Qualification
Pipeline companies constantly train control room operators and maintenance personnel for their specific pipeline systems. Each pipeline is unique, custom built to match the specific terrain, products and other factors that are peculiar to a system's operations. Safety drills are conducted so that operators and emergency response personnel know the details of their unique system. Training and safety drills are designed to protect against the human factors that can either cause accidents or make them worse once they happen.
Pipeline companies have for many years conducted extensive training and qualification programs of their own because their control operators and maintenance personnel must manage technically sophisticated pipeline systems that are relied upon to deliver products throughout the country.
Federal pipeline safety regulations for hazardous liquid and natural gas pipelines address stringent pipeline operator training and qualification (OQ) requirements. A key focus of the OQ regulations is the need to ensure that pipeline operator personnel are fully prepared to respond to emergency situations, such as excessive pressure, pipeline breaks or pump failures. No two pipeline systems are exactly alike. Differences, for example, in operating terrain; products; types of control room equipment; computer systems; valve arrangements; and system operating pressure designs vary from system to system. In each case, control room and other operator personnel must respond differently to emergency situations. A correct response on one system could be precisely the wrong response on another system. For these reasons, OQ regulations reject standardized, uniform testing and a federal certification program in favor of system-specific performance-based approaches.
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Pipeline operators are required by regulations to establish written procedures to minimize hazards resulting from pipeline emergencies. They must establish methods of receiving notifications of emergencies, and communicating with emergency responders. Operators must also establish appropriate procedures to ensure a prompt and effective response to various types of pipeline emergencies. Operators must train their personnel on the emergency requirements, establish liaison with emergency responders and public officials, and periodically perform exercises to ensure that emergency response procedures and training are effective.