PLAN: Understanding the relationship between Public Awareness and Engagement and Public Awareness and Damage Prevention
Public Awareness and Engagement
Public engagement starts with informing/educating and increases in complexity. Goals, objectives and targets guide the level of complexity. This will vary from operator to operator and even within an operator for engagement in projects. Public engagement promotes meaningful dialogue.
Public awareness is about informing and educating through one-way engagement, but it is specific to safety messaging, taking action and changing behavior. It is unique, and its importance should not be minimized. One way to think about safety messaging is that it is non-negotiable, and a conversation will not influence that. Let’s look at some examples:
- Confirm your campfire is out before leaving the area. Soak, stir, soak.
- Slow down when driving through construction zones and people are actively working.
- Stop smoking as it causes lung cancer.
- Call before you dig.
- Do not feed wildlife.
- Do not drink and drive.
- Stop, drop, and roll.
API through its Recommended Practices (RP) 1162 and 1185 guides pipeline operators in their programs. More about RP 1185 can be found at Pipeline Engagement (pipelinepublicengagement.org)
There are a couple of notable similarities between RPs 1162 and 1185 in terms of public awareness and public engagement.
- Both involve external stakeholders ranging from government officials, members of the public, Tribal Nations, and first responders.
- Both follow the plan-do-check-act/adjust cycle.
There are a few notable differences between RP1162 and RP1185.
- Public engagement is for the pipeline’s lifecycle from preconstruction and design through operation and abandonment, whereas public awareness is primarily related to operations.
- Public awareness programs are regulated. Public engagement programs are done in good faith, building relationships over time.
- Public awareness is one-way, and public engagement is two-way.
Public Awareness and Damage Prevention
Pipeline safety is of utmost importance to pipeline operators, who monitor and mitigate threats to the integrity of the pipeline. One of the threats is mechanical damage. Mechanical damage occurs when something strikes the pipeline causing damage and, most notably, from excavation activities.
Knowing excavation damage is a risk to the pipeline, operators employ several strategies, including public awareness, to mitigate the threat. Public awareness programs provide important safety messages like ‘call before you dig.’ In addition, operators set goals for their programs, inform stakeholders, measure the effectiveness and continually improve. Specific to preventing damage, measures may include trending the number of near misses or the number of times 811 was called.