Distribution Integrity Management (DIMP)
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"Distribution Integrity
Management" (also known as "DIMP") is a regulation of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA).
A Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking was issued in June 2008, and the final rule was released in December 2009.
The regulation requires
operators, such as natural gas distribution companies (LDCs), to develop and implement written integrity management (IM) programs addressing
the following elements:
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Knowledge of
infrastructure
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Identification of
threats
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Evaluation
and prioritization of risks
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Mitigation of
risks
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Measurement
and monitoring of performance
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Periodic
evaluation and improvement
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Reporting of
threats.
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Operators are given 18
months from the date of the issuance of the final rule to develop and implement a written plan.
In early 2009, NGA and
the Southern Gas Association (SGA) announced the development of a joint collaborative to develop a framework document which would provide a
foundation and the guidelines for a distribution integrity management plan. The partnership is based on a similar arrangement that the two
organizations used in the past for the successful development of a joint Transmission Integrity Management Plan. Structural Integrity (SI)
was selected as the contractor to develop the document under the direction of the collaborative.
The framework document
will serve as an outline for distribution companies to build customized distribution integrity management plans that comply with the final
rule. The supporting documents, templates and tables have been included in a "user's guide" that support the framework document.
The framework document
and user's guide was developed to provide distribution operators with a document that could be customized to meet the specific needs of large
and complex systems as well as smaller systems. Members of the collaborative have operations ranging from those that serve more than 3
million customers and cover multiple states and jurisdictions to those that serve less than 50,000 customers.
The document is available for purchase now. More information on purchasing the document is available on the SGA web site: http://www.southerngas.org/index.php/products/details/51/7/sga-training-products/nga/sga-dim-framework-document-and-user%27s-guide
From this common
platform, each NGA and SGA participating member can then develop an individual program to meet the requirements of the final Distribution
Integrity Management Rule from (PHMSA).
Order the NGA-SGA Plan
for your company. Visit the SGA web site for
more info.
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