SAN FRANCISCO — PG&E announced it filed a 45-page report with the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday to provide an in-depth overview of what the company is doing to make sure its natural gas pipelines are safe and reliable.
The Gas Safety Plan addresses culture, risk management, training, compliance, records, pipeline maintenance and modernization, emergency planning, and how the utility incorporates and measures safety in all of those areas, according to a PG&E statement.
“What we filed today is PG&E”s roadmap to becoming one of the nation”s safest gas utilities,” Nick Stavropoulos, the utility”s executive vice president of gas operations, said.
The plan stems from Senate Bill 705, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed last October. California”s gas corporations are required to provide periodic updates on their gas system safety actions.
Stavropoulos, who took the reins of PG&E”s gas operations a year ago, called attention to several sections:
– Culture: The report speaks to PG&E”s renewed vow of creating a “safety first” culture in which public and employee safety is the highest priority, and employees feel empowered to share and act on safety concerns.
– Training: PG&E”s plan to ensure that its workforce is highly skilled and experienced includes building a technologically advanced training facility — targeted for completion in 2015 — that provides hands-on learning experiences in “real world” scenarios.
– Hiring: PG&E estimates its gas organization will grow by approximately 1,400 people by the end of 2014 to support the focus on safety and compliance. The gas operations team has already restructured.
– Emergency readiness: PG&E plans to move the gas transmission control center, distribution control center and dispatch center into one facility by mid-2013.
The plan recognizes that it will take time for PG&E to achieve its vision of becoming an industry leader in safety and reliability.
“Becoming one of the nation”s safest utilities isn”t some pie-in-the-sky idea. The monumental progress we”ve made over the past two years shows we know how to get things done. Our Gas Safety Plan proves we know what more we need to do,” Stavropoulos said.
For more information, visit www.pge.com.
