On July 8, 2015, API published a new Recommended Practice (RP) concerning safety management systems for pipelines. API RP 1173 will provide pipeline operators a comprehensive way to make safe operations and continuous safety improvement a constant focus of their operations. Safety management systems provide a formal framework to monitor, measure and improve safety performance continuously over time, and have been used successfully in the aviation, chemical production, refining, and nuclear power industries. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recommended the pipeline industry build on the success of other industries and develop its own safety management system. Pipeline operators, Federal and State regulators, and members of the public worked together over 2 years to develop this RP. The recommended practice was formally adopted under the American Petroleum Institute standard setting practice accredited by the American National Standards Institute and meeting essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus and due process. The focus now shifts to implementation where the pipeline industry will encourage, educate and assist its member operators with their own implementation of the recommended practice.
API 1173 Recommended Practice for Pipeline Safety Management Systems can be purchased at API’s Publications Store.