Pipeline Safety - Public Awareness: Delivering the Message(s)

The pipeline industry has a variety of ways to communicate the pipeline safety message to those with the need to know.  These include marking of pipeline rights-of-way, periodic mailings to businesses, land owners and others who live along the rights-of-way, community meetings, distribution of brochures and other educational material.  The industry has developed “public” awareness practices and individual companies offer specific training/education to those involved in land use activities, public works and transportation, emergency response, digging and excavating and other stakeholders in public health and safety.  Local, state and federal government organizations work to increase public awareness in pipeline safety.

While high quality educational material is available and widely distributed, there appears to be little collaboration within the industry and among companies and government agencies to develop a common and consistent awareness strategy.  Each organization appears to have its own message and awareness plan.  Primary causes of this lack of unity are the different messages that need to be communicated, the different audiences to which the message(s) need to be delivered and the priority of the message absent a pipeline event. 

•          Liquid pipelines carry products that are different in their potential impact on communities than gas pipelines.  Higher pressure (and capacity) transmission pipelines have different risk factors than lower pressure distribution systems. 

•          People and communities along pipelines need to be aware of the risk factors and how to react in emergency situations.  Contractors and others working around pipelines and other underground utilities need to pay attention to where and how they dig.  Resident projects such as fences, light poles, landscaping and sprinkler systems, foundations, swimming pools, ground clearing, grading, deep plowing, and laying underground pipe or wiring are included in this group.

Our assessment of the various pipeline safety awareness efforts indicates that several factors are important to the successful delivery of the pipeline safety message:

•          Consistent in components – impact of unsafe practices, responsibility of the deliverer, responsibility of the audience

•          Tailored to the needs of the specific audience

•          Delivered in a manner and at a time that accommodates the audience’s priorities

•          Coordinated with other efforts to engage the same audiences

•          Embedded in larger (and higher priority) awareness/educational efforts

Opportunity

The WUTC has contracted with The Frause Group, to develop a pipeline safety awareness program for those who live and work along pipelines.  The results of their research will be available soon (September 2003).  The next steps will be to effectively implement their recommendations.  Earlier in 2003, the Citizens Committee on Pipeline Safety initiated an effort to design a pipeline safety awareness program centered on a Governor’s declaration of a Pipeline Safety Day (or week) sometime in 2004. 

We believe that the completion of the work done by the Frause Group and the Citizen’s Committee awareness initiative can be used as an opportunity for the WUTC to engage the other parties with messages to deliver in the design of an implementation strategy and plan.

Roundtable Associates proposes to facilitate the development of such as strategy and plan as part of our WUTC pipeline safety contract.  It would begin with strategy sessions with the Frause Group and “grow” to include the Citizen’s Committee and other key stakeholders – primarily the organizations who are currently working to deliver the pipeline safety message.