PIPELINE RISK ASSESSMENT 209

Introduction
Today, pipelines have found an important role in the
transportation systems. Pipelines transport many con-
siderable volumes of raw materials and products. This
application is bolded in oil, gas and petrochemical
industries. Right operation and handling of pipelines,
regarding its confinement is one of the safest methods
of transportation
1)
. Then why is it necessary to identify
and assess the pipeline hazards?
Nevertheless safety and ease of pipeline transporta-
tions, we should note that most length of pipelines are
located out of our sight, they have high volume and
pressure inside them, and hazardous entity of some
chemicals, long distances which these pipelines pass and
other factors, should be considered. On the other hand,
due to wide range of pipelines integrity threatening fac-
tors, this system of transportation, seems vulnerable.
Between 1970s and 2001, 34 major accidents hap-
pened in the United States Oil and petrochemical pipe-
lines, which leaded to death of at least 105 people.
Average financial loss for every accident has been
34 million dollars. Mean volume of release for every
case was about 10 million gallons
2)
. In the year 2000
only one accident in a pipeline resulted to death of 12
people
3)
. With regard to wide hazards of pipelines, it
is very critical that some features or tools be applied to
manage the hazards.
Unfortunately, nevertheless of this importance, many
legal agencies ignore health, safety and environmental
requirements of pipelines
4)
. One of the best tools for
managing HSE (health, safety, Environment) hazards is
Risk Assessment procedure. This is wise to consider a
mixture of social and personal risks
5)
because pipelines
accidents could have social and personal, infrastructural
Health, Safety and Environmental Risk of a Gas
Pipeline in an Oil Exploring Area of Gachsaran
Omid KALATPOOR
1
*
, Kambiz GOSHTASP
2
and Solieman KHAVAJI
3
1
Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of Health, Centre of Health Researches, Hamadan University
of Medical Science, P.O. Box 4171-65175, Hamadan, Iran
2
Quality Assurance Department of Ghachsaran Oil Co., Kohkiloyeh, Boyerahmad, Iran
3
HSE Department of Pars Area, Asaloyeh, Booshehr, Iran
Received September 5, 2009 and accepted September 3, 2010
Published online in J-STAGE December 16, 2010
Abstract: The purpose of this study was assessing health, safety and environmental risk of a
gas transfer pipeline in an oily area of Gachsaran. In this method, we used the Kents pipe-
line risk assessment method except that to facilitate using the method more practically some
changes were exerted into Kents method. A pipeline with 16 kilometers length was selected
considering surrounding nature of the pipeline. It was divided into two sections. Analogous
to Kents method, in this method, parameters included: interested partys injuries, corrosion,
design factor, incorrect operation index and consequence scoring. The difference here was
that for consequence scoring we used ALOHA 5.6 software instead of Kents pattern. Results
showed that health, safety and environmental risks of section 2 (the next 13 kilometers of out-
going pipeline from gas station after the first 3 kilometers) were greater. It seems the main
cause of gaining a bigger risk number was related to more activities of interested parties
around section 2. Because all figures gathered from indexes are almost close to gather except
third parties activity.
Key words: Pipeline, Risk assessment, Health, Safety, Environment, ALOHA
Industrial Health 2011, 49, 209214 Original Article
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: [email protected]
210 O KALATPOOR et al.
Industrial Health 2011, 49, 209214
and environmental consequences
6)
.
Hence, it should be tried to form and keep a com-
prehensive intuition about pipeline risk assessment. As
the population increases around pipelines, vulnerability
of pipelines are raised
7)
therefore; social risks can be
affected by consequences and probable hazards of pipe-
lines.
Indeed, which factors can influence integrity of pipe-
lines? Which items are the HSE hazards of a pipeline?
Which approaches can enhance reliability of pipelines?
These questions and many others about pipeline
hazards were issues that have engaged the mind of
this papers executors. Execution of this study was
an endeavor to solve some of those problems. In this
paper, using amended Kents method for pipeline risk
assessment, objections are identified and managerial and
technical solutions are presented for control of related
risks.
Materials and Methods
One of the most common methods in pipeline risk
assessment is Kents method. This method has been
taken from the book Pipeline Risk Management
Manual W.Kent third edition- 2004. In this method,
Relative Risk Rating is the final measure for estimat-
ing the risk level of the selected pipeline. Unlike many
other methods that are deterministic, Kents method is
a probabilistic method. This feature is important, espe-
cially in management of corrosion risks
8)
. However
importance of deterministic methods should not be
ignored.
The main objective of this paper was the identifica-
tion of potential risks of the selected pipeline and offer-
ing preventive approaches. Using such a system, we
could improve weak points of the pipeline greatly
9)
.
This improvement would rise the lifetime of the sys-
tem. If threatening risks identification and assessment
are well done, probably we could use the outputs of the
method in Risk Based Inspections (RBI)
10)
. The for-
mula used in Relative Risk Rating is:
Relative Risk Rating = (Index sum) /
(Leak Impact Factor)
Index sum = (Third party) + (Corrosion) + (Design)
+ (Incorrect operation)
Leak Impact Factor = Threat area +
Product hazards + Target
Index sum is achieved by the summation of inter-
ested parties, corrosion, design, and incorrect operation
parameters. Each of these parameters, themselves have
some sub clauses or parameters. The third parties
index includes: minimum depth of soil, activity level,
above ground facilities, line location, public education,
right-of-way condition and patrolling frequency.
Corrosion index includes: atmospheric corrosion,
internal corrosion and surface corrosion. Design index
comprises safety factor, fatigue, surge potential, integrity
verification, and land movement. And finally incorrect
operation index has clauses including design, construc-
tion, operation and maintenance.
To calculate the pipeline risk level, one should use
the guideline tables of Kents method. According to
comments of the tables, one should select the suit-
able number and finally, per above formula, calculate
Relative Risk Rating. Note that weights of all param-
eters are not equal and depending on engineering expe-
riences, each parameter has an appropriate weight.
Also, Leak Impact Factor section is the summation of
Threat area, Product hazards and Target. The change
which we exerted in this method was using ALOHA 5.4
software for estimating the threat area instead of using
the traditional method. This change was to facilitate
the estimations because we thought the suggested tech-
nique of Kents method is somewhat hard and applying
software can ease the use of it. We also believed using
software will improve Kents method capabilities.
The ALOHA software is a consequence analysis soft-
ware which is downloadable from EPA website. To
working with this software, with inserting process data
and source (here pipeline), and weather conditions (wind
velocity, environment roughness, humidity), the soft-
ware represents three levels of radiation at Kw/m
2
. Of
course regard to the nature of natural gas, noteworthy
scenario for us was fire and explosion and accordingly
radiation severity.
The software classification for radiation severity is as
below:
- Red threat zone (10 KW/m
2
- potentially lethal with-
in 60 s)
- Orange threat zone (5 KW/m
2
- second degree burns
within 60 s)
- Yellow threat zone (2 KW/m
2
- pain within 60 s)
Other contents of Leak Impact Factor were calculated as
Kents method. To implement risk assessment, a team
was formed from our own organization experts and a
consultation company. According to past experiences, a
pipeline with 16 km length was selected. Considering
geographical, ecological and demographical differences,
this line was divided into two sections, the first 3 kilo-
meters outgoing from the site and the next 13 km left.
Risk assessment team inspected and reviewed each
section and gathered related information. Then all data
were discussed in a meeting and after consensus on
PIPELINE RISK ASSESSMENT 211
proper number, related measures were extracted from
the guideline tables. Also threat zones were calculated
by software.
Results
The overall results of our study showed that most
important threatening factor of the pipeline in this study
was Third Party Damages which had considerable
impact on final risk score for each section.
For the first index, measure of third party damages,
were 53 for section 1 and 38 for section 2 (Table 1).
Another index, the corrosion index, was 36.7 and
38.7, for section 1 and 2 accordingly (Table 2).
Design index for both sections was equal and it was
36.5. Design requirements and specifications for both
sections were same (Table 3).
Incorrect operation index was calculated and mea-
sures of sub clauses including: design, construction,
operation and maintenance were attained (Table 4).
And finally, Leak Impact Factor calculated for each
section (Table 5).
In both sections of the pipeline, general parameters
didnt have considerable differences except at third
party damage index which there were most variations.
In dominator of Relative Risk Rating equation (Leak
Impact Factor), also there were some differences that
had impact on final risk score.
Using the parameters and described procedure, final
risk score for section1 was 8.71 and for section 2 was 5.96
Table 1. Measures of third party damage index for two sections
ID PARAMETER RANGE SECTION 1 SECTION 2
Third Party Damage Index
11 Depth of soil 020 13 13
12 Activity level 020 12 2
13 Above ground facilities 010 5 1
14 Line location 015 9 9
15 Public education 015 3 3
16 Right-of-way condition 05 3 2
17 Patrolling frequency 015 8 8
Total 0100 53 38
Table 2. Corrosion index measures for two sections
ID PARAMETER RANGE SECTION 1 SECTION 2
Corrosion Index
A Atmospheric corrosion 010 6.7 3.7
A1 Atmospheric exposure 05 3 0
A2 Atmospheric Type 02 1.2 1.2
A3 Atmospheric Coating 03 2.5 2.5
B Internal corrosion 020 8 8
B1 Product Corrosivity 010 3 3
B2 Corrosion prevention 010 5 5
C Subsurface Corrosion 070 22 27
C1 Soil Corrosivity 015 8 8
C2 Mechanical corrosion 05 4 4
C3 Piping Coating 025 10 15
Total 0100 36.7 38.7
Table 3. Design index measures for two sections
ID PARAMETER RANGE SECTION 1 SECTION 2
Design index
1 Safety factor 035 3.5 3.5
2 Fatigue 015 13 13
3 Surge potential 010 5 5
4 Integrity Verification 025 5 5
5 Land movements 015 10 10
Total 0100 36.5 36.5
212 O KALATPOOR et al.
Industrial Health 2011, 49, 209214
(Table 6).
Finally, Relative Risk Ranking for each section:
Relative Risk Rating = (Index sum) /
(Leak Impact Factor)
section1: 174.2/20 = 8.71
section2: 157.9/26.5 = 5.96
Discussion
In the Kents method, to estimate Leak impact factor,
evaluator needs to understand release mechanisms for
Table 4. Incorrect operation index measures for two sections
ID PARAMETER RANGE SECTION 1 SECTION 2
Incorrect Operation Index
1 Design 030 11 10
11 Hazard identification 04 1 0
12 Maximum Operating
Pressure potential
012 0 0
13 Safety Systems 010 6 6
14 Material Selection 02 2 2
15 Checks 02 2 2
2 Construction 020 18 18
21 Inspection 010 8 8
22 Material 02 2 2
23 Joining 02 2 2
24 Backfill 02 2 2
25 Handling 02 2 2
26 Coating 02 2 2
3 Operation 035 17 15
31 Procedures 07 2 2
32 Communications 03 2 0
33 Drug Test 02 0 0
34 Safety Programs 02 1 1
35 Survey/Maps/Records 05 3 3
36 Training 010 6 6
37 Mechanical error preventers 06 3 3
4 Maintenance 015 2 2
41 Documentation 02 1 1
42 Schedule 03 1 1
43 Procedures 010 0 0
Total 0100 48 45
Table 5. Leak impact factor measures for two sections
ID PARAMETER RANGE SECTION 1 SECTION 2
Leak Impact Factor
1 Target 6 7.5
11 Population Density 2.5 4
12 High Value Area 3.5 3.5
2 Product Hazards 7 7
21 Acute Hazards 5 5
22 Chronic Hazards 2 2
3 Threat Area 7 12
Total 20 26.5
Table 6. Measures of main parameters of two sections
Parameter Section 1 Section 2
Third party damage index 53 38
Corrosion index 36.7 38.4
Design factor 36.5 36.5
Incorrect operation index 48 45
Index sum 174.2 157.9
Leak Impact Factor 20 26.5
Relative Risk Rating 8.71 5.96
PIPELINE RISK ASSESSMENT 213
assumed scenario and then model potential release for
risk assessment. To score the relative dispersion area or
hazard zone of a spill or release, the relative measures
of quantity released and dispersion potential can be
combined and then adjusted for mitigation measures.
Having knowledge of understanding and modeling
of such situations need engineering and technical back-
grounds and for some conditions this modeling requires
complicated mathematical relations that maybe inaccu-
rate.
To facilitate this section of pipelines risk assessment
and to resolve complexity of consequence analysis, we
applied software (ALOHA) and really we got very more
straightforward results. The main content of our study
was trying to solve complexity of that section.
Nevertheless, there were some limitations and diffi-
culties in implementation of this study. Maybe the most
important limitation was that due to the long life of the
line there wasnt sufficient necessary documentation and
where there was no enough data, expert judgments were
used. The most dominant presentation of this lack was
in Design index.
Another limitation of applying our new method is
that in this type of estimation, the basic focus is on
the safety and occupational health and environmental
concerns lie in third rank of importance. In the other
word, this method is more reliable for safety and occu-
pational health than environmental concerns. However
we can interpret environmental data and information
from this method.
Evaluation of gathered data showed that increased
risk of section 2 of the pipeline was due to third parties
activities. This index exerts its impact in two ways:
first, direct impact via third party damage index and
indirectly via leak impact factor because population
density has major effect on leak impact factor measure.
Also all figures gathered from indexes are almost close
to gather except third parties activity that this difference
may be root of differences at the levels of these two
sections.
Some assessments were made by the risk assessment
team after achieving final results to find main causes
of risks. This assessment suggested below reasons for
increased risk level in section 1:
- More proximity and activity of native people and
tribe
- Proximity to above ground facilities
- Absence or shortage of public awareness about
pipeline hazards
- Cultivation around or on the buried line
- Depth of land in some point (that can lead to water
accumulation)
This is obvious that most of the causes are related to
third parties. However if pipeline designed appropriate-
ly and performed in pre-planned track, ecological risk
will diminish
11)
. But human activities and third party
activities (such as contractors) have dramatic impact on
integrity of pipelines.
Anyway, deduction of this study on the magnitude of
third partys impact on pipeline integrity is compatible
with Iranian Pipeline and Telecommunication com-
pany declaration about threatening factors of pipelines.
In this study we used ALOHA software to facilitate
application of Kents method, but it does deserve to
endeavor more study to further facilitate some aspects
of the current method.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our study shows importance of risk
assessment process for pipelines in general, because
conducting pipeline risk assessment can enhance sys-
tem life cycle
12)
. The second point was the importance
of public and third parties awareness about hazards of
pipelines. Increasing communication with public and
training educate them can lead to decreasing level of
health, safety and environment risks.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to sincerely thank Dr. Sarah S. rad,
for helping edit the paper.
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