Underground Infrastructure - February 2023 - 22
DCA President Profile
for PSMS using the DCA template. They
then approached the DCA and over the
next couple of months we worked together
to help finalize it. In November, API
published the PSMS contractor guideline,
which is available on their website.
That was DCA's first effort with API,
and now we've started working together
to develop a set of tools that contractors
can use to help integrate and assess where
they are on their PSMS journey.
UI: What kind of tools?
Parker: There are approximately 230
" shall " statements in the API 1173 which
was written for the pipeline operating
companies. But looking at the " shall "
statements from a contractor's perspective,
the industry has determined there's
only about 56 that apply to contractors.
The tools that we're talking about
developing are examples, guidance documents
and templates that a contractor
can use to help with their management
systems based on those 56 shall statements,
and then suggestions on how they
can integrate them into their operations
and ways that they can evaluate their
progress on that journey. Suggestions on
what they can do. Because you never get
to the end. You're continuously evaluating
and improving.
UI: What's the timeline
for this new effort with API?
Parker: We officially started Dec. 12
with the first call. But we've set a very aggressive
goal, and we're hoping to present
this in draft form at the DCA meeting
in Miami. Then, we're hoping to present
it again at the DCA-AGA workshop in
Chicago in April. There's a lot to do.
The DCA template was a much
lengthier process. It took us three or
four years, maybe longer, to develop
that template. In the two years since we
finished that, I've been spending time
meeting with members of other associations
and attending workshops to promote
the DCA template and make sure
that the other association members are
considering contractors when they're
putting their pipeline safety management
programs together.
We want to make sure that all contrac22
FEBRUARY 2023 | UndergroundInfrastructure.com
tors working on pipelines in the United
States and elsewhere have solid pipeline
safety management systems in place.
UI: It sounds like DCA is making
a lot of progress on that front.
Where are you facing the
greatest challenges?
Parker: I'd say the biggest challenge we
may face is that some of us, as contractors,
may work for say 50 different clients,
which could mean 50 different PSMS
plans with different PSMS requirements.
Our goal by developing this DCA template
and working with AGA, API and
others is to have a PSMS program that
aligns with the vast majority of our clients,
if not all, so we don't have 50 different
programs. We can have just one program.
UI: Along those lines, you've also
been very involved in developing
DCA's Operator Qualification
Integrity Process, or OQIP.
Parker: Yes, that's another committee
that I've been involved in from the day
it was started. Our goal is to have a kind
of 80-20 rule for operator qualifications
and improve the integrity of OQ along
the way. We've spent the past six years
or so working with other associations,
as well as regulators, to develop our
OQIP program, and that has reached a
very exciting stage right now. We actually
have three pilot programs going on
in Michigan, in the state of Washington
and with New Mexico. We've had the
state regulators sitting at the table with
us developing this, and we're very close
to that being wrapped up as well.
UI: What do you mean by
an 80/20 rule for operator
qualifications?
Parker: Similar to what we discussed on
safety management systems, there are
half a dozen or more OQ evaluation programs
out there, and each pipeline company
utilizes a different OQ program to
evaluate its employees and its contractors.
And so again, in a similar scenario, if
I've got 50 clients and I want to work for
them, I might need to use all six or eight
of those OQ programs. When I switch
from one client to the next, I've got to
switch to another OQ program. Our employees
get tested on the same tasks over
and over. Some of our employees end up
getting tested three or four times a year
on how to fuse pipe, for example.
The OQIP program was developed
with the goal of having a common 80
percent set of tasks that most of the operators
would accept, and then the 20
percent would be specific to that client
company. OQIP is intended to make operator
qualification better with more integrity
while also reducing the amount of
redundant testing our people have to do.
UI: You've been involved from
the beginning, and now the
pilot programs have followed
the same schedule as your
presidential term.
Parker: That's purely coincidence, but,
yes, it's exciting to be a part of the pilots
after we've been working toward them
for so long.
UI: Speaking of long waits,
it seems DCA is finally out from
under the pandemic shadow.
You must be excited to start
your first full year of normal,
in-person activities since 2019.
Parker: Absolutely. The pandemic created
a lot of challenges for contractors, but
as essential workers we had to continue
to work. We've had so many reminders
of the importance of bringing energy to
the communities we live in and maintain
the energy infrastructures, back to the
days when we were designated as essential
workers during COVID. Obviously,
we're not the doctors and nurses who
were on the front lines taking care of very
sick patients, but our employees have
been out there working and providing a
high-quality product safely, under sometimes
difficult conditions. I think this is an
industry that brings a lot to this country,
providing the energy we need to keep our
country going. And I think our DCA contractors
and their employees should be
proud of what they do every day. We look
forward to continuing to partner with our
clients, our labor partners, our workforce
and the communities we work in to distribute
energy to this great country. UI
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Underground Infrastructure - February 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Infrastructure - February 2023
Underground Infrastructure - February 2023 - 1
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