ANALYSIS OF US LIQUID AND GAS INCIDENT DATA

摘要

This document presents an analysis of "Reportable Incidents" on gas transmission and gathering pipelines in the U.S. during the 16-year period from 1985 through 2000 and on liquid pipelines in the U.S. from 1986 through 2000. The reporting format changed after 1985 for the liquid incidents. The purposes of this analysis are to improve the pipeline industry's understanding of the causes of incidents and their consequences, to monitor trends that may indicate the need for action, and to diagnose potential problems in the database that might be general in nature and to identify areas for potential improvement in the data collection process that can help pipelines address the issue of risk management. After third party, accounting for 27.6 percent of all gas incidents, the next four leading causes of reportable incidents are: internal corrosion 12.8 percent, external corrosion 9.9 percent, incorrect operation 7.0 percent, and miscellaneous 6.8 percent. For the liquid incidents, third party incidents are also the leading cause at 20.5 percent. External corrosion was responsible for 18.5 percent, followed by miscellaneous incidents at 9.9 percent, incorrect operations at 8.6 percent and internal corrosion at 6.2 percent. For natural gas pipelines, it appears the number of third party and external corrosion incidents are decreasing while the number of internal corrosion incidents is increasing slightly. For liquid pipelines, the numbers of incidents attributable to third party damage and internal corrosion have remained relatively constant, while there has been a slight decrease in incidents caused by external corrosion. The consequences of incidents are of great importance in terms of assessing their impact on public safety. The consequences of pipeline failures are expressed in the incident reports in terms of fatalities, injuries, and property damage.