Industry Evolution: Understanding the Impacts of the OQ NPRM
PHMSA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for Operator Qualification represents one of the most significant potential changes to pipeline safety regulations in years. EWN is launching this July educational series — "Industry Evolution" — to help operators understand what's being proposed and prepare for the changes ahead.
About the OQ NPRM
PHMSA published the OQ NPRM to propose amendments to the existing Operator Qualification rules found in 49 CFR Parts 192 and 195. The public comment period ended September 8, 2015. Following the comment period, PHMSA convened meetings of the Gas Pipeline Advisory Committee (GPAC) and Liquid Pipeline Advisory Committee (LPAC) on June 1, 2016 in Arlington, VA, where the committees reviewed and voted on the proposed provisions.
What's Coming in This Series
EWN will be publishing detailed breakdowns of each major proposed change throughout July. The schedule includes:
- July 12: New OQ Task Requirements
- July 14: OQ NPRM Educational Series Overview
- July 19: Training Requirements
- July 21: Program Effectiveness
- July 26: Management of Change & Recordkeeping
- July 28: Incident/Accident Reporting & More
We encourage all operators to follow along with this series and contact EWN with questions about how these proposed changes may affect your OQ program.
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