Colonial Pipeline Company
OUR SAFETY PHILOSOPHY

Safety and environmental protection are Colonial’s top priorities. Through a focus on worker safety and having zero system leaks, Colonial works hard every day with these priorities in mind. While prevention is always best, Colonial also maintains a comprehensive emergency response program in the unlikely event an accident should occur.

Colonial invests more than $50 million each year on maintenance and safety programs. Our safety performance earned the company top honors from the American Petroleum Institute – the Distinguished Environmental and Safety Award – four years running.

Pipelines are the safest, most efficient means of getting fuel from the Gulf Coast refineries to the population centers of the Southern and Eastern United States.

• Pipelines reduce congestion by tanker trucks.
• Citizens are safer and air is cleaner due to reduced truck traffic.
• According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, pipelines are the safest mode of transportation for petroleum products.

Pipeline monitoring

Colonial’s pipelines are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week by sophisticated electronic technology from Colonial’s control center near Atlanta, Georgia. The company also maintains a fully operational back-up control center at a nearby location. If necessary, Colonial can shut down the pipeline in seconds, at the first sign of any problem.

• Colonial’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system monitors flow rates, pressure and other operation variables.
• The SCADA system is a primary method of operations and leak detection.

Prevention and detection

Colonial has an extensive prevention and detection program. It involves employees throughout the company and has as its goal the prevention of accidents and the early detection of potential problems. Colonial’s operations employees have the responsibility and the duty to have the pipeline shut down in a safe and orderly manner if they feel conditions are unsafe.

• Colonial inspectors are responsible for patrolling 100 percent of the right of way. They manage any encroachment on the right of way.
• Because local officials are often the first to respond to a pipeline leak, Colonial partners with local emergency responders to provide emergency preparedness training.
• Colonial inspects the thousands of miles of right of way by aerial patrol, the most practical way to effectively inspect the right of way and the adjacent surface conditions. The federal government requires that the right of way be inspected 26 times a year. Colonial inspects its lines weekly, weather permitting, and accomplish this through aerial surveillance.

Safety tools and methods

The top priorities when designing and building additional pipelines and tanks are to ensure the public’s safety and to protect the environment. Colonial uses several tools and methods to accomplish this.

• Internal pipeline inspection devices, called “pigs,” are used to maintain the safety and integrity of pipelines.
• Tanks are equipped with a safety alarm system that provides warning to ensure safe operations.
• Potential areas for leaks or spills at facilities – under tanks, around pumps and meters – have back-up systems to protect the soil and groundwater.
• Tanks are built within dikes designed to hold the volume of the largest tank as a minimum.
• Colonial’s pipelines are made of alloyed steel subjected to rigorous quality-control testing during production and installation. Stronger pipe is used in sensitive areas such as waterways or river crossings.
• The entire pipe is covered in corrosion-resistant, waterproof coatings that preserve the integrity of the pipe. To deter corrosion of the metal underground, Colonial uses cathodic protection systems in conjunction with the protective coatings.

One-call monitoring

Colonial and other operators of underground facilities have joined together in state-level “one-call” notification systems designed to prevent third-party damage.

• Third-party excavation can cause risks to pipelines.
• One-call systems control risk by making it easy for excavators to request permission prior to digging.
• Pipeline markers provide a toll-free phone number to Colonial’s Control Center.
• Colonial receives an average of 1,000 permission requests each day.
• Colonial’s One-call computers automatically map the location of the dig site.
• 40 percent of the requests are resolved by Colonial’s One-call Center.
• The remaining 60 percent are assigned to right of way inspectors for follow-up.