Pipeline safety and security : improved workforce planning and communication needed

PDFResearch PaperGAO-02-785Pipeline safetyPipeline companiesRisk managementSafety managementLabor forceEmployee communicationsPublic private partnershipsUnited States. General Accounting OfficeUnited States. Government Accountability OfficeNTL-FREIGHT-Freight Planning and PolicyNTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Hazardous Materials TransportationNTL-PLANNING AND POLICY-Management SystemsUS Transportation CollectionPipelines transport about 65 percent of the crude oil and refined oil products and nearly all of the natural gas in the United States. The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), within the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), develops, issues, and enforces regulations to ensure the safe transportation of hazardous liquids and natural gas by pipeline. Recognizing that pipeline operators face different risks depending on such factors as location and the products they carry, OPS began exploring the concept of a risk-based approach to pipeline safety in the mid-1990s. In 1996, the Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act included provisions for DOT to establish a demonstration program to test a risk-based approach. This initiative-termed "integrity management"-requires pipeline operators, in addition to meeting minimum safety standards, to develop programs to assess, evaluate, and mitigate any risks to pipeline segments where a leak or rupture could have significant consequences, such as near highly populated areas. The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined OPS's (1) steps to implement the integrity management approach, (2) challenges in implementing this approach, (3) plans for obtaining the resources and expertise needed to oversee pipeline safety under integrity management, and (4) major initiatives to improve the quality of its data on pipeline incidents. The GAO found, although OPS has efforts under way to address several challenges it faces in implementing its new regulatory approach, the lack of a workforce plan and strategy for communicating with its state partners puts it at risk of not being able to overcome these challenges and effectively implement the integrity management approach on schedule. Therefore, the GAO recommends that OPS prepare a workforce plan that includes updated current and future resource estimates and develop a strategy for clearly communicating with its state partners about the role that they will play in implementing the integrity management approach. Appendix, 2 tables, 1 figure, 41 p