Focus on safety : a comparative analysis of pipeline safety performance 2000-2002

Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) is responsible for the promotion of safety, environmental protection and economic efficiency in the Canadian public interest in regulating the design, construction, operation and abandonment of interprovincial and international pipelines within Canada. This second annual report provides a review of the safety performance of oil and gas pipeline companies that are regulated by the NEB. The data used to prepare this report originates from two sources: incident reports submitted under the Onshore Pipeline Regulations, 1999, and from information voluntarily provided by pipeline companies under the Safety Performance Indicators (SPI) initiative. Data comparisons with external reference organizations were included. Six key indicators have been identified to provide comprehensive measures of safety performance for pipeline companies: fatalities, ruptures, injury frequencies, liquid releases, gas releases, and unauthorized activities on the right of way. The safety performance of the federally regulated pipeline industry within Canada was satisfactory during this reporting period (2000-2002). The contractor injury frequency rates reported in 2002 were lower than those reported in 2001, and exhibited more consistency with the levels reported in 2000. The NEB is of the opinion that the elevated number of liquid hydrocarbon spills reported in 2000 were a result of elevated construction levels. No fatalities were reported. There was an increase to three from two in the number of ruptures, due in large part to metal loss (corrosion) and cracking, and external interference (third party damage). The number of spills increased to 76 in 2002 from 55 in 2001, which appears to be more in line with industry averages. The volume of hydrocarbon liquid released in 2002 represented one third the volume released in 2001. refs., 5 tabs., 14 figs