Property Damage vs Release Volume

While we should view database-input information suspiciously, insights may nonetheless emerge.  Joel Anderson recently compared the reported property damage costs with the reported release volumes in PHMSA data 2010 to 2018. spill vol vs prop damage cost This is just pipeline spills, excluding tanks, etc.   Note this plot is log-log scale so small changes can equate […]

Pipeline Hazardous Liquid Spills Analyses

Liq Spills Analyses Here’s some more interesting work from Joel Anderson:  an examination of recent hazardous liquid spill volumes, from the PHMSA reporting databases. Analyses like these not only help us with basic understanding of pipeline releases, but also provide useful input into risk assessments.  In many cases, our estimates of location-specific loss potential are […]

Statistical Life Valuation

As monetization of risk becomes more mainstream, values must be assigned to the potential for human injury or fatality.  The risk assessor need not generate values himself since such numbers are published in various sources.  This includes values that have been used in US government decision-making for years. Here is some example guidance:  VSL Guidance 2013 […]

Does the CoF hazard zone approach make sense for water pipeline risk assessments?

Absolutely. Even though, unlike its hydrocarbon cousins, no thermal scenarios would be expected from water pipe failures, other consequences are numerous and many are related to the distance from the failure location (hazard zones). Modeling is therefore appropriately done using hazard zones, with both direct and indirect consequence considerations, just as we do for hydrocarbon pipelines.