On April 22, PHMSA hosted its third workshop / webcast on the draft API Recommended Practice 1173, Pipeline Safety Management Systems. The Recommended Practice should be issued as final before June 1. Members of the Recommended Practice Committee reviewed the elements of the Recommended Practice and answered questions from the audience (live and online). The questions included:
- Would the Recommended Practice be incorporated by reference into the regulations?
- How will it be used in enforcement?
- What should pipeline companies do now?
Linda Daugherty (PHMSA) replied that PHMSA did not have plans to incorporate the Recommended Practice by reference into the regulations, but that could change in the future. It will not be used for enforcement purposes, but a company’s efforts in developing a PSMS could be a factor in incident investigations and follow up. Representatives from the various pipeline industry organizations briefly described their projects for developing implementation tools and promoting the implementation of the Recommended Practice among their membership.