On December 17, 2002, Congress issued the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. Section 5 of the Act called for operators of gas or hazardous liquid pipeline facilities to review their existing public education programs for effectiveness and modify the programs as necessary, by December 17, 2003, and submit the completed programs to OPS and/or the appropriate state agency.
OPS determined that the most effective way to meet the intent of those requirements was to ask operators to complete self-assessments of their programs. The self-assessments would allow operators to acknowledge the requirements of the Act and existing pipeline safety regulations and to baseline their programs against the guidelines for such programs provided in the American Petroleum Institute’s Recommended Practice (RP) 1162. RP 1162 is available freely for viewing electronically on the API Web site. Previously, summary tables of the RP 1162 program recommendations were provided for review and downloading.
OPS issued an Advisory Bulletin in a Federal Register Notice on November 25, 2003, notifying pipeline operators that they must complete and submit self-assessments of their public education programs to RSPA/OPS and/or the appropriate state agency for receipt no later than December 17, 2003, to meet the deadline established in the PSIA.
A document that provides the summary aggregate results of those operator self-assessments may be viewed here (PDF file)
RP 1162 is the industry standard for operator public education programs. OPS plans to incorporate the guidance of RP 1162 by reference into pipeline safety regulations and has issued a Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) OPS also plans to sponsor and support workshops to help pipeline operators develop and implement effective public education programs.