Pipelines are our safest and most reliable means of transporting the fuels critical to our society. No one benefits from a single accident involving our nation’s pipelines. To help ensure the safety of America’s vast and growing pipeline infrastructure, The National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) has partnered with the US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which administers the nation’s pipeline safety program through the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS).
The resulting Partnership for Excellence in Pipeline Safety has set a goal of zero pipeline incidents.
But the safety and reliability of our nation’s pipelines is a shared responsibility, and in order to achieve the goal of zero, NASFM will rely on the experience and lessons learned from the many existing pipeline safety programs, from federal, state and local regulators involved with pipeline safety, from industries that use and operate pipelines, and from communities with pipelines in their backyards.
The Partnership will go beyond the traditional agencies and organizations engaged in pipeline safety. Ultimately, the program will not focus on simply doing what is required, but on achieving a level of excellence that far exceeds minimum safety standards.