TRACEABILITY: A TECHNOLOGY, REQUIREMENT AND FUTURE FOR PIPELINES

摘要

Whether they are people, places or things, there is nothing that can escape electronic scrutiny in the 21st century, pipelines included. With the right planning, personnel and software systems, both industry and government representatives agree that the tools are in place to maintain control and complete records for the North American, if the not the world's, oil and natural gas pipelines. It wasn't always this way, and pipeline industry veterans certainly have changed their perspective on "traceability," as industry and regulators call it, since the tragic incidents in San Bruno, CA and elsewhere in recent years. Those incidents highlighted the fact that inadequate recordkeeping practices still exist and may be contributing causes to incidents as a result.