View all text of Subpart F [§ 195.400 - § 195.454]
§ 195.402 - Procedural manual for operations, maintenance, and emergencies.
(a) General. Each operator shall prepare and follow for each pipeline system a manual of written procedures for conducting normal operations and maintenance activities and handling abnormal operations and emergencies. This manual shall be reviewed at intervals not exceeding 15 months, but at least once each calendar year, and appropriate changes made as necessary to insure that the manual is effective. This manual shall be prepared before initial operations of a pipeline system commence, and appropriate parts shall be kept at locations where operations and maintenance activities are conducted.
(b) The Associate Administrator or the State Agency that has submitted a current certification under the pipeline safety laws (49 U.S.C. 60101 et seq.) with respect to the pipeline facility governed by an operator's plans and procedures may, after notice and opportunity for hearing as provided in 49 CFR 190.206 or the relevant State procedures, require the operator to amend its plans and procedures as necessary to provide a reasonable level of safety.
(c) Maintenance and normal operations. The manual required by paragraph (a) of this section must include procedures for the following to provide safety during maintenance and normal operations:
(1) Making construction records, maps, and operating history available as necessary for safe operation and maintenance.
(2) Gathering of data needed for reporting accidents under subpart B of this part in a timely and effective manner.
(3) Operating, maintaining, and repairing the pipeline system in accordance with each of the requirements of this subpart and subpart H of this part.
(4) Determining which pipeline facilities are in areas that would require an immediate response by the operator to prevent hazards to the public, property, or the environment if the facilities failed or malfunctioned, including segments that could affect high-consequence areas (HCA) or are in HCAs, and valves specified in § 195.418 or § 195.452(i)(4).
(5) Investigating and analyzing pipeline accidents and failures, including sending the failed pipe, component, or equipment for laboratory testing or examination where appropriate, to determine the cause(s) and contributing factors of the failure and to minimize the possibility of a recurrence.
(i) Post-failure and -accident lessons learned. Each operator must develop, implement, and incorporate lessons learned from a post-failure and accident review into its written procedures, including in pertinent operator personnel training and qualifications programs, and in design, construction, testing, maintenance, operations, and emergency procedure manuals and specifications.
(ii) Analysis of rupture and valve shut-offs; preventive and mitigative measures. If a failure or accident on an onshore hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline involves the closure of a rupture-mitigation valve (RMV), as defined in § 195.2, or the closure of an alternative equivalent technology, the operator of the pipeline must also conduct a post-failure or post-accident analysis of all the factors that may have impacted the release volume and the consequences of the release, and identify and implement operations and maintenance measures to minimize the consequences of a future failure or accident. The analysis must include all relevant factors impacting the release volume and the consequences, including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) Detection, identification, operational response, system shut-off, and emergency-response communications, based on the type and volume of the release or failure event;
(B) Appropriateness and effectiveness of procedures and pipeline systems, including supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), communications, valve shut-off, and operator personnel;
(C) Actual response time from identifying a rupture following a notification of potential rupture, as defined at § 195.2, to initiation of mitigative actions and isolation of the segment, and the appropriateness and effectiveness of the mitigative actions taken;
(D) Location and timeliness of actuation of all RMVs or alternative equivalent technologies; and
(E) All other factors the operator deems appropriate.
(iii) Rupture post-failure and accident summary. If a failure or accident on an onshore hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline involves the identification of a rupture following a notification of potential rupture; the closure of an RMV, as those terms are defined in § 195.2; or the closure of an alternative equivalent technology, the operator must complete a summary of the post-failure or -accident review required by paragraph (c)(5)(ii) of this section within 90 days of the failure or accident. While the investigation is pending, the operator must conduct quarterly status reviews until the investigation is completed and a final post-failure or -accident review is prepared. The final post-failure or -accident summary and all other reviews and analyses produced under the requirements of this section must be reviewed, dated, and signed by the operator's appropriate senior executive officer. An operator must keep, for the useful life of the pipeline, the final post-failure or -accident summary, all investigation and analysis documents used to prepare it, and records of lessons learned.
(6) Minimizing the potential for hazards identified under paragraph (c)(4) of this section and the possibility of recurrence of accidents analyzed under paragraph (c)(5) of this section.
(7) Starting up and shutting down any part of the pipeline system in a manner designed to assure operation within the limits prescribed by § 195.406, consider the hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide in transportation, variations in altitude along the pipeline, and pressure monitoring and control devices.
(8) In the case of a pipeline that is not equipped to fail safe, monitoring from an attended location pipeline pressure during startup until steady state pressure and flow conditions are reached and during shut-in to assure operation within limits prescribed by § 195.406.
(9) In the case of facilities not equipped to fail safe that are identified under paragraph 195.402(c)(4) or that control receipt and delivery of the hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide, detecting abnormal operating conditions by monitoring pressure, temperature, flow or other appropriate operational data and transmitting this data to an attended location.
(10) Abandoning pipeline facilities, including safe disconnection from an operating pipeline system, purging of combustibles, and sealing abandoned facilities left in place to minimize safety and environmental hazards. For each abandoned offshore pipeline facility or each abandoned onshore pipeline facility that crosses over, under or through commercially navigable waterways the last operator of that facility must file a report upon abandonment of that facility in accordance with § 195.59 of this part.
(11) Minimizing the likelihood of accidental ignition of vapors in areas near facilities identified under paragraph (c)(4) of this section where the potential exists for the presence of flammable liquids or gases.
(12) Establishing and maintaining adequate means of communication with the appropriate public safety answering point (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency call center), where direct access to a 9-1-1 emergency call center is available from the location of the pipeline, and fire, police, and other public officials. Operators must determine the responsibilities, resources, jurisdictional area(s), and emergency contact telephone numbers for both local and out-of-area calls of each Federal, State, and local government organization that may respond to a pipeline emergency, and inform the officials about the operator's ability to respond to the pipeline emergency and means of communication during emergencies. Operators may establish liaison with the appropriate local emergency coordinating agencies, such as 9-1-1 emergency call centers or county emergency managers, in lieu of communicating individually with each fire, police, or other public entity.
(13) Periodically reviewing the work done by operator personnel to determine the effectiveness of the procedures used in normal operation and maintenance and taking corrective action where deficiencies are found.
(14) Taking adequate precautions in excavated trenches to protect personnel from the hazards of unsafe accumulations of vapor or gas, and making available when needed at the excavation, emergency rescue equipment, including a breathing apparatus and, a rescue harness and line.
(15) Implementing the applicable control room management procedures required by § 195.446.
(d) Abnormal operation. The manual required by paragraph (a) of this section must include procedures for the following to provide safety when operating design limits have been exceeded:
(1) Responding to, investigating, and correcting the cause of:
(i) Unintended closure of valves or shutdowns;
(ii) Increase or decrease in pressure or flow rate outside normal operating limits;
(iii) Loss of communications;
(iv) Operation of any safety device;
(v) Any other malfunction of a component, deviation from normal operation, or personnel error which could cause a hazard to persons or property.
(2) Checking variations from normal operation after abnormal operation has ended at sufficient critical locations in the system to determine continued integrity and safe operation.
(3) Correcting variations from normal operation of pressure and flow equipment and controls.
(4) Notifying responsible operator personnel when notice of an abnormal operation is received.
(5) Periodically reviewing the response of operator personnel to determine the effectiveness of the procedures controlling abnormal operation and taking corrective action where deficiencies are found.
(e) Emergencies. The manual required by paragraph (a) of this section must include procedures for the following to provide safety when an emergency condition occurs:
(1) Receiving, identifying, and classifying notices of events that need immediate response by the operator or notice to the appropriate public safety answering point (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency call center), where direct access to a 9-1-1 emergency call center is available from the location of the pipeline, and fire, police, and other appropriate public officials, and communicating this information to appropriate operator personnel for prompt corrective action. Operators may establish liaison with the appropriate local emergency coordinating agencies, such as 9-1-1 emergency call centers or county emergency managers, in lieu of communicating individually with each fire, police, or other public entity.
(2) Prompt and effective response to a notice of each type emergency, including fire or explosion occurring near or directly involving a pipeline facility, accidental release of hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide from a pipeline facility, operational failure causing a hazardous condition, and natural disaster affecting pipeline facilities.
(3) Having personnel, equipment, instruments, tools, and material available as needed at the scene of an emergency.
(4) Taking necessary actions, including but not limited to, emergency shutdown, valve shut-off, or pressure reduction, in any section of the operator's pipeline system, to minimize hazards of released hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide to life, property, or the environment. Each operator must also develop written rupture identification procedures to evaluate and identify whether a notification of potential rupture, as defined in § 195.2, is an actual rupture event or non-rupture event. These procedures must, at a minimum, specify the sources of information, operational factors, and other criteria that operator personnel use to evaluate a notification of potential rupture, as defined at § 195.2. For operators installing valves in accordance with § 195.258(c), § 195.258(d), or that are subject to the requirements in § 195.418, those procedures should provide for rupture identification as soon as practicable.
(5) Control of released hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide at an accident scene to minimize the hazards, including possible intentional ignition in the cases of flammable highly volatile liquid.
(6) Minimization of public exposure to injury and probability of accidental ignition by assisting with evacuation of residents and assisting with halting traffic on roads and railroads in the affected area, or taking other appropriate action.
(7) Notifying the appropriate public safety answering point (i.e., 9-1-1 emergency call center), where direct access to a 9-1-1 emergency call center is available from the location of the pipeline, and fire, police, and other public officials, of hazardous liquid or carbon dioxide pipeline emergencies to coordinate and share information to determine the location of the release, including both planned responses and actual responses during an emergency, and any additional precautions necessary for an emergency involving a pipeline transporting a highly volatile liquid (HVL). The operator must immediately and directly notify the appropriate public safety answering point or other coordinating agency for the communities and jurisdiction(s) in which the pipeline is located after notification of potential rupture, as defined at § 195.2, has occurred to coordinate and share information to determine the location of the release, regardless of whether the segment is subject to the requirements of § 195.258 (c) or (d), § 195.418, or § 195.419.
(8) In the case of failure of a pipeline system transporting a highly volatile liquid, use of appropriate instruments to assess the extent and coverage of the vapor cloud and determine the hazardous areas.
(9) Providing for a post accident review of employee activities to determine whether the procedures were effective in each emergency and taking corrective action where deficiencies are found.
(10) Actions required to be taken by a controller during an emergency, in accordance with the operator's emergency plans and §§ 195.418 and 195.446.
(f) Safety-related condition reports. The manual required by paragraph (a) of this section must include instructions enabling personnel who perform operation and maintenance activities to recognize conditions that potentially may be safety-related conditions that are subject to the reporting requirements of § 195.55.
(g) Exception. An operator of a gathering line must only comply with the requirements of 49 CFR 195.402 effective as of October 4, 2022, and need not comply with the other requirements of this section.