Whether carrying oil, gas, or other hazardous materials, pipelines prove to be a vital component of how those and other materials are transported. Pipelines alleviate some of the strain on other transportation infrastructure such as railways and the highway system. Yet just as those transportation methods are regulated for safety, so too must pipelines, from development to decommissioning.

Specific design and construction practices, standards, and regulations dictate how an oil or gas pipeline is put into operation, including among them what qualifications the associated workforce has to perform the work. After a pipeline is installed and functioning, a series of inspections throughout its service life help reduce the chance of costly failures or deadly hazards. Other safety measures include placing clearly visible pipeline markers, providing facility mapping to city and county planners, and offering public information programs.

Excavation damage prevention programs offer another important layer of protection. In the U.S., One Call laws have been implemented in every state. These laws designate an 811 phone number to be used from anywhere in the country, which then redirects to a local One Call center. After describing the digging that is planned, a locator is sent out to approximate pipeline and cable location. Another example of this sort of program is the LinesearchbeforeUdig (formerly Linesearch) program in the United Kingdom.

In many countries the safety of pipelines is overseen by local, state, and federal governments. In the U.S., the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and its Office of Pipeline Safety “ensure the safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation of the Nation’s pipeline transportation system.” Several statutes have been involved since 1968, from the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act to Pipeline Safety Improvement Act. In the United Kingdom the Health and Safety Executive’s Energy Division is largely responsible for the onshore and offshore pipeline industry as well as the Pipeline Safety Regulations 1996.