‘We Will Be the Safest, Most Reliable Gas Company in the Country’: Inside PG&E’s Gas Safety Journey

Following the tragic gas-pipeline accident on Sept. 9, 2010, in San Bruno, PG&E embarked on a transformational journey to ensure that a similar event never happened again. That included researching safety management practices of top companies in the airline, railroad and energy industries, as well as PG&E’s own award-winning nuclear safety program.

The goal was identifying the tools those companies used to maintain consistency within their safety operations. A consistent theme emerged among companies that had strong or recently transformed safety records: integrated safety management systems.

Displayed near the main entrance of the Gas Safety Academy is a section of damaged gas transmission pipe from the San Bruno explosion that took eight lives, injured 58 others and became the impetus to creating a cultural shift at PG&E.

These findings led to the 2012 establishment of PG&E’s Gas Safety Excellence program (today known as the Gas Safety Excellence Management System or GSEMS) that has served as the formal structure that drives continuous improvement around safety and asset management in Gas Operations.

“The San Bruno incident is what I call a watershed moment not only for PG&E but for the natural gas industry,” said Sumeet Singh, PG&E executive vice president, chief risk officer and interim chief safety officer.

Key milestones

Some of the achievements under Gas Safety Excellence include:

• Achieving top-decile industry performance in preventing third-party damages to underground infrastructure
• Reducing the average response time (in minutes) to a gas odor call by nearly 40%
• Strength-testing more than 1,500 miles of gas transmission pipeline
• Replacing more than 1,100 miles of gas distribution mains
• Opening a state-of-the-art gas control center
• Opening a world-class gas safety academy
• Becoming the first U.S. utility company to receive compliance with the industry standard for pipeline safety management systems (API 1173)
• Becoming one of the first utilities to earn two of the highest internationally recognized asset management certifications from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 55001 and PAS 55)

PG&E was the nation’s first gas utility to create an integrated, independently certified safety management system that includes asset management, process safety and safety culture. The program’s core tenets include:

• Putting safety and people at the heart of everything
• Investing in the reliability and integrity of the natural gas system
• Continuously improving the effectiveness and affordability of all processes
• Adopting a speak-up mindset to address issues and concerns and stop work for any issue to ensure it’s done safely and properly

This past April, PG&E coworkers — including senior leaders Patti Poppe, Adam Wright, Sumeet Singh, Joe Forline, Janisse Quiñones, Christine Cowsert, and Peter Kenny — came together for a symposium to mark 10 years since the inception of the Gas Safety Excellence program. Participants attended virtually and in-person in Winters.

The symposium featured speakers from NiSource and Con Edison who shared that when they looked to establish a safety management system within their companies, they turned to PG&E’s renowned Gas Safety Excellence program as the model.

Around the industry, Gas Safety Excellence is often regarded as the gold standard for asset management and safety management systems for Gas Utilities.

“Providing the safe and reliable service our customers want and deserve requires unwavering commitment and focus,” said Senior Vice President, Gas Operations, Joe Forline. “The maturation of our Gas Safety Excellence program has made safety a part of the DNA of our Gas organization, and our team is demonstrating that every day in how we plan and execute our work.”

A decade of gas safety excellence

Every day, PG&E coworkers at the company’s Gas Safety Academy in Winters see these 12 words on the wall near the main entrance: “We will be the safest, most reliable gas company in the country.”

Also displayed near the main entrance is a section of damaged gas transmission pipe from the San Bruno explosion that took eight lives, injured 58 others and became the impetus to creating a cultural shift at PG&E toward becoming the safest, most reliable gas company in the country.

“San Bruno changed everything,” said Josh Eaton, a gas safety representative. “In Gas Operations, safety is at the forefront of everything we do. Everything needs to be right.”

In addition to the quicker gas leak response times and reduced third party dig-ins, as well as increased gas transmission and distribution line inspections and replacement, PG&E recognized that its Gas Operations team had to make other improvements. The objectives were enhancing training procedures, eliminating gaps, and improving efficiencies and effectiveness in processes and practices.

How did PG&E meet these objectives?

• Centralizing most office-based (non-field) Gas Operations teams. In 2011, Gas Operations relocated its workforce under one roof in San Ramon.
• Creating a Gas Control Center. Opened in 2013, the center helps PG&E monitor its entire gas system in real time.
• Staying on the leading edge of innovation. In 2017, PG&E opened the Center for Gas Safety and Innovation in the East Bay. The center includes laboratories and workspace where teams apply some of the natural gas industry’s most advanced, tools, testing equipment and lab resources.
• Providing world-class training. Also in 2017, PG&E opened the Gas Safety Academy. The company’s primary training center for Gas Operations provides more than 36,000 hours of training annually.

World-class safety management certifications

In 2014, Gas Operations earned two internationally recognized best-in-class gas facilities asset management accreditations from Lloyd’s Register: the ISO 55001 and PAS 55-1. PG&E was one of the first utilities to hold these certifications and was recertified for both in 2017, and again in 2021.

Another first for the industry was the certification of Gas Operations as compliant with the American Petroleum Institute’s Recommended Practice 1173 for safety culture and pipeline safety in three-year intervals in 2015, 2018 and 2021.

Gas Operations was also one of the first gas utilities to integrate process safety into its safety management system and achieved the American Chemistry Council’s RC14001 certification for process safety, community communications, product safety, occupational safety, health, environmental and security practices. In 2019, Gas Operations achieved certification of compliance with the American Petroleum Institute’s Recommended Practice for Process Safety Indicators, API 754. The company was the first utility to receive these certifications.

Recognized as a benchmark organization

In addition, the Gas Safety Excellence framework has been benchmarked by other utility companies such as Consumers Energy in Michigan and NiSource, which serves customers in six states. Within PG&E, the company’s Electric Operations, Power Generation and IT teams have done the same in creating their own safety excellence plan.

The future

Looking ahead, the focus on Gas Safety Excellence remains at the core of the team’s operations every day.

“As leaders, we have to continue to tell the story of San Bruno,” said Sara Burke, senior director, Gas Transmission and Distribution Portfolio Management. “We have to share the learnings with new employees, who are the future of this company. They need to understand this is the biggest ‘why’ about why we do the things we do.”

“I couldn’t be prouder of what our teams have done in Gas Operations, not just in implementing Gas Safety Excellence, but embedding it within the DNA of our organization,” said Singh. “Gas Safety Excellence has enabled us to evolve from being reactive and responsive to being predictive and preventative.”

Email Currents at Currents@pge.com.