Empower Your Business with Pipeline Scada Alarm Management in Canada

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the liquid petroleum pipeline industry is focused on operating pipelines safely and reliably and at the heart of a safe reliable pipeline system is the control [Music] room there are three primary elements that control rooms rely on to maintain safe operations first the control room is staffed by highly trained controllers who put safety at the Forefront of every decision they make second in addition to their training and experience controllers rely on technology to help them do their jobs and third controllers follow processes and procedures designed to ensure that decisions are consistent correct and based on all available facts of the three well-trained controllers are the most important element in a pipeline control room pipeline controllers are dedicated disciplined and have been selected for their ability to process information rapidly and accurately they are trained to analyze information and react appropriately to abnormal conditions pip pipeline controllers understand that their most important role is to help protect the public and the environment training to operate in a control room involves several months of instruction and study covering areas such as hydraulics pump mechanics pipeline specific terminology how systems and components react to events and processes and procedures for both Normal and abnormal situations training also includes practical Hands-On work with experienced controllers who reinforce classroom training by showing how it applies in real world situations once a controller understands basic pipeline operations their training becomes more specific ongoing training uses tools such as procedure reviews simulator practice and drills on possible scenarios when there are unplanned events investigations are conducted and then incident reviews and Lessons Learned are shared with controllers to supplement their training controllers are also trained to react quickly when they receive calls from land owners emergency responders or other members of the public who report that they have seen smelled or even heard something unusual near a [Music] pipeline a modern control room continually streams realtime information to the controllers covering every aspect of a pipeline's operations this is the technology component that is so critical to a control room's ability to maintain safe operations from here tanks valves pumps even the pipes themselves can all be monitored and operated thanks to high-speed communication equipment and Powerful computers this system is called a supervisory control and data acquisition system or scada system for short the SK system allows controllers to monitor the pressures temperatures flow rates and specific attributes of all the liquids in the pipelines the SK system provides this information in real time and gives controllers the ability to transmit commands to remote equipment such as pumps or valves any conditions that are outside normal operating settings are programmed to trigger automatic alarms and the controllers are then able to determine if the condition is expected if it's something to investigate further or if emergency action is required at any time the controller has the authority and responsibility to shut down the pipeline if a leak is suspected in addition to the skada system many control rooms also use fast highly sensitive computational pipeline monitoring or CPM systems to help detect leaks as liquids are pumped into and out of pipelines CPM systems continuously analyze the volume and physical properties of liquids like temperature and viscosity this data is used to compare actual conditions with expected conditions giving controllers another tool tool for monitoring the Integrity of a pipeline pipeline operators strive for 100% SC and communication system reliability that's why many operators maintain off-site backup facilities so that even if the primary control room has to be shut down or evacuated operations can continue [Music] safely although Tech technology and people are the critical factors at work in a pipeline control room what brings them together and makes them work seamlessly are the processes and procedures that govern their operations from the moment a controller walks into a control room to start a shift procedures must be followed for example a shift change includes a detailed checklist of information that must be passed from the controller who is finishing a shift to the one who is taking over by the time the controllers begin their shift they have been briefed on items including alarm statuses event schedules maintenance activities batch changes and system startups or shutdowns this procedural handoff is essential to maintaining the continuity of safe pipeline operations procedures are also very specific when it comes to dealing with abnormal conditions or alarms first and foremost to safeguard the public and the environment controllers know that they have the authority to shut down a pipeline without a supervisor's authorization the rule of thumb for liquid petroleum pipelines is to shut down when the cause of an abnormal condition cannot be quickly identified after the decision has been made to shut down control room procedures dictate what must happen before the pipeline can be started again in order to ensure disciplined decisionmaking subject matter experts are consulted these discussions also include Personnel who can be deployed quickly to pipeline field locations if necessary everyone involved in the decision-making process is trained to rely only on facts rather than assumptions to make decisions only after stakeholders and subject matter experts agree that the situation is safe and that all procedures have been followed can the pipeline be restarted this dedication to following procedures also extends to handling emergencies in the control room itself for example there are detailed steps to be followed if there is a loss of skat control or if the control room has to be evacuated for any reason when it comes to hand Ling stressful situations especially emergencies the key to success is preparation that's why pipeline control rooms practice their procedures with drills on a regular basis these drills can also involve field operations in order to simulate the complications and uncertainty that can result from a leak or other abnormal event in addition to pipeline controller's own dedication to safety the federal Pipeline and hazardous materials safety administration referred to as fimsa has also issued regulations for control room management these regulations provide a robust framework for how control rooms must operate fimsa identified many of the best practices in control room management and mandated them in these regulations fimsa also sets industrywide standards for how these regulations are to be followed and how pipeline controllers are held accountable control room management regulations require that pipeline operators Define the roles and responsibilities of Staff in their control rooms they also ensure that information flows to the right people at the right time and that fatigue management is part of a control rooms procedures to help maximize controller alertness in addition the regulations mandate alarm management and change management procedures various types of controller training and detailed documentation of control room activities that affect operations in today's pipeline control rooms It's Not Unusual that every operational event is recorded and archived one of fim say many important control room management regulations formalizes the process of incorporating Lessons Learned From incidents and events this helps ensure that pipeline controllers are focused on continuous Improvement a practice that has been an important part of the pipeline industry from its earliest days hearing about a control room's people technology and procedures can help you understand how they work in theory but it's all always helpful to see examples of how they work in practice now here's a short video that a pipeline operator has used as a training tool for its new control room trainees it describes a real incident fortunately in this case a leak was identified and the pipeline was shut down by the control room in less than 2 minutes operations do not always go as planned this video lets you see what it looks like from a controller's perspective Sunday August the 10th 2008 the pad Owens bro crud system is operating at a rate of approximately 7700 barrels per hour at 342 pipe time a switch is made to originate from capline the system responds and normal operation continues at 4:00 shift change takes place between analysts on Console number five the system continues normal operation as the incoming analyst completes routine check-in tasks for the next hour and 44 minutes the POA Owensboro system quietly operates requiring no intervention POA capline booster a ptoa main M line units 1 and two Johnsonville Mainline unit 1 and albian Mainline unit 2 are all in operation at 544 albian station shuts down on low suction pressure seconds later multiple analog deviation alarms are received for albian and Johnsonville stations including suction pressure discharge pressure and control valve percentage open at 5:45 a CPM leak alarm was received for the boka Owensboro system seconds later the discharge pressure at ptoa station and the Owensboro flow rate deviate low what would you do at this point in time what would you be thinking what would you be analyzing I came in for shift change and started the morning it was a very quiet morning not much happening then albian station shut down on low suction pressure so I knew I needed to stabilize the line so my first thoughts were to look at Johnsonville a station that is Upstream of albian so it didn't go down on high discharge and I noticed that the discharge pressure was much lower than it was when I came in at shift change and decided that I better get the specialist involved [Music] as a specialist came over we were trending the pressures at Johnsonville and albian and we also had received a CPM leak alarm at this time so we were pretty sure that it was a leak and decided we needed to shut the pipeline down tokus pressure that's coming down as well that FL rate starting to go up as a specialist you started thinking about the steps in the process uh where do we go from here because you we had to make a decision fast on what to do uh we had our pressure descending rapidly at Johnsonville came to a decision where we needed to pretty confident we need to line down and shut it down fast uh from this point once we decided to leave the pipeline uh headgate open and drain more pressure off the line uh we essentially had the line down uh and I uh had to decide for myself where to proceed from this point so my first call was to my supervisor to get him involved in it and give him the low down on the situation uh then we went to the uh CPM supervisor to have him take another look at uh the CPM system and what it was telling him to make sure that he can confirm to us what we are also seeing and uh then from that point I scheduled a conference call with our area superintendent the conference call involved other subject matter experts uh operation supervisors and to decide on a course of action from that point was to get a pilot up into the air to fly the pipeline see if he could confirm uh a release anywhere along the pipeline and he did indeed find from what he described about a 300 ft spray of crude oil over vegetation just Upstream of Alan station the station went down to low [Music] suction [Music] although contr control room personnel and procedures functioned well during this incident the fact remains that a leak did take place in its investigation of the leak the pipeline operator found that it resulted from a type of failure that had not been previously seen and therefore was not regarded as a threat to pipeline Integrity as a result this company implemented several measures to minimize the risk of this type of failure happening again and shared what it learned with its industry colleagues in the US and Canada just as pipelines are an essential part of our national Energy System effective and professional control rooms are an essential element for ensuring pipeline safety keeping the public safe while transporting the energy we all need every day is the work of the people who staff a control room pipeline employees understand understand that they are in a position of public trust and strive to operate safely and reliably each day they take their jobs very seriously because pipeline companies regulators and the public all share the goal of zero incidents pipeline control rooms are a critical tool in this ongoing industrywide effort to continuously [Music] improve e