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APGA Speaks at Kansas Pipeline Safety Conference

By John Erickson posted 10-25-2017 03:04 PM

  
On October 24, APGA’s Vice President of Operations, John Erickson, discussed current issues being monitored by APGA affecting public natural gas system operations and safety at the Pipeline Safety Conference in Junction City, Kansas, sponsored by the Kansas Corporation Commission. John’s talk addressed the proposed rulemaking amending the operator qualification regulations that was proposed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in 2015. He discussed the rulemaking process and noted that this proposed rule had gone through public comment and review by PHMSA’s Advisory Committee so PHMSA could issue a final rule at any time. He stated that under a recent Executive Order, PHMSA would have to eliminate two regulations in order to add an additional regulation.

The proposed rule would require significant changes to many operator qualification programs. It would extend the list of covered tasks to include construction, emergency response and integrity management tasks. Operators would be required to specify in their written OQ plans re-evaluation intervals justified based on the difficulty, safety sensitivity and frequency of performance of each task, as well as limits on span of control, e.g. how many non-qualified persons can be directed and observed by one qualified person. The proposed rule would also add a requirement for operators to conduct annual assessments of the effectiveness of their OQ programs.

John also discussed Pipeline Safety Management Systems (PSMS), which is not a regulation but which is something PHMSA is urging operators to incorporate into their operations. The American Petroleum Institute (API) has issued a recommended practice however. That document is geared toward very large interstate pipelines. APGA’s Operations and Safety Committee is currently developing guidance for pipeline safety management systems (PSMS) for public gas utilities. A major focus of PSMS is fostering a safety culture and public natural gas systems are significantly different that investor-owned utilities in the complexity of the operations and governance.

Over 200 operators and exhibitors attended this year’s conference. For questions on this article, please contact John Erickson of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-0834 or by email at jerickson@apga.org.

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