Responding to recent spate of pipeline ruptures and explosions over the past year, the American Petroleum Institute (API) together with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has announced a new pipeline safety management standard titled Recommended Practice (RP) 1173.

API developed and published RP 1173 in an open and transparent process and it is now the new American National Standard (ANS) on the subject of pipeline safety management systems. “We continue to be committed to safety and this standard raises that bar even further,” said Robin Rorick, API Midstream Director. “This new standard gives operators a holistic framework to identify and address safety concerns for a pipeline’s entire life cycle.”

The RP will build upon existing safety requirements to further monitor and measure the effectiveness of pipeline activities with a “plan, do, check, and act” philosophy that requires periodic reviews and applies changes or corrections to activities as needed.

A copy of RP 1173 can be found on the API website in pdf format.