PHMSA to Hold Pipeline Safety Public Awareness Workshop June 19-20

April 29, 2013

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) will conduct a two-day workshop to bring together pipeline safety public awareness stakeholders to discuss findings from recent federal and state public awareness inspections, and gain perspectives from various stakeholders on public awareness challenges and successes to identify ways to strengthen pipeline safety public awareness. Presentations from this workshop will be made available on the PHMSA web site following the workshop.

The workshop will be held June 19-20 in Dallas, TX. Click here to learn more and register.

Background

To address pipeline safety public awareness requirements, in 2005 PHMSA incorporated by reference into its regulatory program under 49 CFR 192.616 and 49 CFR 195.440, the American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practice (RP) 1162, "Public Awareness Programs for Pipeline Operators."

Under these regulatory requirements, pipeline operators must develop and implement public awareness programs consistent with requirements specified in the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act (PSIA) of 2002. Pipeline operators are required to conduct continuing public awareness programs to provide pipeline safety information to four stakeholder audiences: the affected public, emergency response officials, local public officials, and excavators.

In June 2010, PHMSA co-sponsored with the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR) a one-day public awareness workshop in Houston, TX. In that workshop, pipeline trade associations and pipeline operators shared lessons learned from implementing their public awareness programs based on federal pipeline safety regulations.

Those regulations require pipeline operators to periodically evaluate their public awareness programs for effectiveness and enhance their programs as necessary, in intervals of no more than four years apart. Over the past few years, PHMSA and some state regulators have inspected pipeline operator public awareness programs to assess regulatory compliance.