Analysis of the National Energy Board Pipeline Integrity Performance Measures Data

The National Energy Board’s (NEB or the Board) top priorities are the safety of people and protection of the environment. NEB-regulated pipelines have a very good safety record; however, the NEB noticed an increased trend in some types of incidents. Therefore, after considerable stakeholder consultation, in March 2012 the NEB started requiring NEB-regulated companies to report annually on new pipeline performance measures. These performance measures were developed and introduced to promote continual improvement in the management of pipelines by allowing companies to compare their results with industry aggregate numbers. In addition, these metric results allow the NEB to both evaluate and demonstrate that pipeline companies are effective in managing pipeline safety and protection of the environment. The NEB requires all regulated companies to report on incidents, such as releases of substances and serious injuries. Pipeline performance measures data provides the Board additional information such as lagging and leading indicators. These lagging indicators provide an historical view of company performance while the leading indicators provide forward looking data of potential future events. The NEB is of the view that an amalgamation of leading, lagging and qualitative measures can provide an overview of company effectiveness in meeting foundational management system program objectives. This paper examines four years of reported integrity related performance and integrity inspection data to evaluate trends in activities taken by companies to maintain safe pipelines. This paper will briefly discuss the challenges encountered when developing the measures, obtaining consistent data and evaluation of the data to identify trends. The paper will conclude by summarizing select results of the integrity performance measures and integrity inspection information data and discuss any potential future actions related to the pipeline performance integrity measures.