Harnessing Tech for Safety

Deck: 

Embrace Digital Prospects

Fortnightly Magazine - June 2019
This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.

Since the early 1900s, the gas industry has prudently maintained the safety and resilience of the pipelines that serve our communities. Though safety remains a top priority for the industry, a confluence of unprecedented challenges has recently emerged. 

New patterns of extreme weather and rapid urbanization combined with aging infrastructure and an aging workforce have created operating challenges unlike any other faced by the industry — and we're seeing those challenges manifest in more incidents that impact the safety and health of our communities. 

Despite these challenges, new digital technologies are emerging that can make our infrastructure safer and more resilient. Deploying these technologies will require close collaboration between utility operations leaders, regulators, and entrepreneurs.

Incidents on the Rise

To see the physical and financial impact of aging infrastructure and an increasingly complex operating environment, one need only look to the news. Data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration shows that seven hundred gas distribution-related incidents have killed over two hundred and fifty people in the past twenty years.

This full article is only accessible by current license holders. Please login to view the full content.
Don't have a license yet? Click here to sign up for Public Utilities Fortnightly, and gain access to the entire Fortnightly article database online.