The Pipeline Industry-Planning and Exercising: Is Industry Deriving Full Benefit from Lessons Learned?1

Abstract

ABSTRACT The National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) was developed to provide a mechanism for compliance with the exercise requirements established under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90), while being economically feasible for the government and the oil industry to adopt and sustain. PREP provides the opportunity for both the government and oil industry to participate in a standardized exercise program to meet all OPA 90 mandated exercise requirements. The guidelines also state that plan holders are responsible for addressing issues that arise from the evaluation of exercises, and for making changes to the response plans necessary to ensure the highest level of preparedness. This paper outlines the planning and exercise program established by the Department of Transportation's Office of Pipeline Safety for onshore transportation-related pipelines. It presents a compilation of lessons learned from over 45 unannounced exercises conducted since 1996, which identified improvements in the area of emergency management. The report also chronicles the oil pipeline industry's revisions to response plans based on recommendations from the PREP exercises. Finally, the report offers recommendations to ensure that the pipeline industry incorporates the lessons learned from PREP into its response plans and corporate response structure.