TABLE OF CONTENTS Formal risk management can become a useful tool for pipeline operators, managers, and others interested in pipeline safety and/or efficiency. Benefits are not only obtained from an enhanced ability to improve safety and reduce risk, but experience has shown that the risk assessment process draws together so much useful information into a central location that it becomes a constant reference point and information repository for decision making all across the organization.
The purpose of the pipeline risk assessment method described in Chapters 3 through 7 of this book is to evaluate a pipeline s risk exposure to the public and to identify ways to effectively manage that risk. Chapters 8 through 14 discuss special risk assessment considerations, including special pipeline facilities and the use of absolute risk results. Chapter 15 describes the transition from risk assessment to risk management.
While the topic of pipeline risk management does fill the pages of this book, the process does not have to be highly complex or expensive. Portions of this book can be used as a cookbook to quickly implement a risk management system or simply provide ideas to pipeline evaluators. A fairly detailed pipeline risk assessment system can be set up and functioning in a relatively short time by just one evaluator.
A reader could adopt the risk assessment framework described in Chapters 3 through 7 to begin assessing risk immediately. An overview of the base model with suggested weightings of all risk variables is...
