The paper presents an introduction to the new Pipelines Safety Regulations (PSR) 1996 (more formally known as Statutory Instrument 1996 No 825) which came into force on 1lth April this year. The reasons and purpose for their introduction and various aspects of the Regulations that directly influence the pipeline engineer are discussed Finally in order to provide an overview of the changing environment and culture of pipeline engineering, references are made to the proposed new IS0 International Standard on pipelines, and various ongoing Joint Industry Projects (JIPs) with respect to pipelines, i e. strain based design, limit state stress analysis and nontrenching of pipelines, which may eventually provide additional basis for the Authorities to assess future Applications for pipeline construction that utilise innovative techniques and procedures.
Enforcement of the rules has traditionally been made by a regulator checking compliance with prescribed legislative requirements. But if the rules no longer describe in detail precisely what is expected, then the regulators need to modify the traditional approach. The current HSE policy embodies the concept of partnership to reach its aims, rather than prescription Under PSR 96, the regulator's role is to assess whether the duty holders arrangements - policies, management, risk control systems, and practical workplace arrangements - are adequate to ensure compliance. This means that inspectors will have to exercise judgement based on selective examination of important aspects of these arrangements The Major Accident Prevention Document (MAPD) required by the PSR is a cornerstone to the ‘self regulating’ and ‘goal setting’ approach. Assessment of this document should allow the regulators to quickly establish whether the duty holders arrangements are adequate and suitable in principle.
This paper discusses some key aspects of PSR 96 that affect the pipeline design consultant, as follows, reasons for PSR 96, applicability of the Regulations; DTVHSE interface; duty holder, Major Accident Hazard Pipeline (MAHP), notification requirements to HSE for MAHPs, Major Accident Prevention Document (MAPD) for lb&4HPs; emergency procedures, local authority emergency response plans, revocation of existing instruments, transitional provision, typical project schedule for onshore and offshore pipelines, and what do the new Regulations do for the pipeline industry.
Codes and standards have been around for many years. Each nation has its own, and invariably they all contain different design requirements for onshore and offshore pipelines. The three prominent codes over the years have been the United Kingdom IP6 and Norwegian DnV (for offshore pipelines) and American ANSVASME codes (for onshore and offshore pipelines) BS8010 is only a recent entrant, and replaced IP6. The KVAERNER JOHN BROWN pipeline engineer involved on international projects is expected to know the peculiarity of each code whilst at the same time keeping abreast of changing technology and industry trends In the new shrinking world, why can we not have one set of global codes This paper goes onto discuss the new IS0 International Standard which will attempt to achieve this.
