Pipeline Safety Consultants
Gas Pipeline Expert Witness, Pipeline Safety Audits, Pipeline Emergency Response Planning, Pipeline Safety Code Compliance

Services

Expert Witness

Expert witness service is provided for litigation involving natural gas and LPG distribution systems, for gas and liquid transmission pipelines, and for related systems. Accidents may involve fire or explosion, damage by third parties, leaks, overpressure situations, corrosion damage, pipeline rupture, failure of pipe joints, acts of vandalism, outside forces, or improper procedures.

Assistance is provided regarding industry standards, federal and state regulations, and commonly accepted practices. Excellent credentials are provided, along with over 40 years of industry experience.

Audits

Identify potential weaknesses and determine how your company compares to commonly accepted industry practices by means of a non-adversarial audit conducted by a team of experts. Oleksa and Associates can provide verbal reports or detailed documentation that can be used for management purposes and planning for future actions.

Audits may be limited to procedures and manuals, or they may extend into all operations and maintenance activities, including the associated documentation.

Procedures and Manuals

Procedures and manuals can be reviewed to identify weaknesses or updated for better organization and compliance. Fully electronic procedures can be developed. Extensive use of hyperlinks makes cross referencing easy. Indexes can be developed to guide even novices to the appropriate locations within the manuals.

Wording is carefully chosen to comply with regulations and standards, and to provide appropriate direction to field personnel while minimizing exposure to liability.

Procedures can be arranged in a way that makes sense to a company’s unique organization, and cross-references can be established to link the procedures with Code requirements.

Mechanisms can be established to review procedures on an annual basis, and to provide documentation for the reviews.

Emergency Response Planning

Emergencies require quick response and well-thought-out procedures. Because each emergency is unique, there must be provision for use of judgment. Communications are critical. The first person on the scene may have an important role, and follow-up personnel with specialized equipment may be required. Oleksa and Associates can help to review or to establish an emergency response plan that is customized to fit each company’s needs.

Incident Investigation

When an accident happens, there is a very short window of opportunity to initiate an investigation. Decisions made within the first few hours can have a significant effect on a company’s ability to defend itself in later litigation. Appropriate personnel should be involved.

Oleksa and Associates can help develop a plan of action to be used for investigating accidents. Such a plan can be initiated at a moment’s notice. It is too late to begin planning after the accident has happened.

Pipeline Safety Code Compliance

With excellent credentials and over 40 years of experience, Oleksa and Associates can provide assistance with establishing appropriate positions for the design, construction, testing, operation, and maintenance of gas and liquid pipeline systems.

Compliance with state and federal regulations is essential. It is equally important to provide appropriate direction to personnel, and to limit risk and liabilities. Companies should be aware of how their positions relate to commonly accepted industry practices.

Training

Oleksa and Associates can provide training on pipeline safety issues at a company’s own location, eliminating the need for employee travel. This training can be adapted to cover a company’s own procedures, and to meet the specific needs of the personnel involved. Training for various groups within a company can be modified to meet the needs of those groups.

Specialty areas include training for accident investigation and preparation of procedures and manuals.

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