Electronic reporting and auditing systems for transmission pipeline incident/accident and annual reports

During a thorough review and analysis of the USDOT databases on hazardous liquid accidents, transmission gas incidents and the annual reports of gas transmission and gathering systems, it became evident that the databases contain significant errors, omissions and inconsistencies. This made it very difficult to derive statistically sound conclusions on the causes of pipeline failures. The solution for this problem is to develop a computerized reporting system that will audit the input and will help the operators in the report filing process as well as alerting The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) about data errors, inconsistencies and deficiencies in the submitted report. It will also eliminate the need for manual data input which is another source of errors that weaken the databases. This paper describes such an innovative electronic filing and data auditing system that was developed at the Institute for Transportation of the New Jersey Institute of Technology. First, the problems of quality control with the current reporting system are addressed. The proposed electronic solutions are then introduced in general terms showing how this system will rectify the data quality problems associated with the present manual system. Lastly, the implementation of the hazardous liquid accident reporting form is presented to illustrate the system's concept.