PLAN: Program Planning – Overview

Pipeline Public Awareness Programs will always vary based on differences in pipeline systems, stakeholder audiences, the differences in operators’ philosophies, differences in products transported, and more.

However, what most pipeline systems have in common are the federal and state regulatory requirements to have a program to communicate with stakeholder audiences on specified topics related to pipeline safety and evaluate and improve programs over time.

This section of the guidance site will provide additional detail on some aspects of program planning, and—collectively as an industry—our charge to drive knowledge, awareness, and behaviors related to pipelines and pipeline safety.

API RP 1162, Third Edition, is framed around the four-step Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) iterative process established in API RP 1173, Pipeline Safety Management Systems.

The first phase of the PDCA approach is to develop a written public awareness program.

Although public awareness plans will vary from operator to operator, the following eight components are minimum requirements across all plans:

  1. Program objectives (see Section 4.3)
  2. Program Administration (see Section 4.4)
  3. Pipeline systems covered by the program (see Section 4.5)
  4. A process for identifying stakeholder audiences (see Section 4.6)
  5. Baseline messaging, delivery frequencies, and delivery methods (see Sections 5 and 6)
  6. A process for identifying program supplements beyond the baseline program (see Section 7.3)
  7. A process for program evaluation (see Section 8)
  8. Documentation requirements (see Section 9)