UPDATE: California Panel Finds 'Dysfunctional Culture' At PG&E
09 Giugno 2011 - 11:02PM
Dow Jones News
An independent panel of experts concluded Thursday that PG&E
Corp.'s (PCG) utility had a "dysfunctional culture" that gave
little heed to public safety or the high level of technical
expertise needed to safely operate a gas pipeline system.
The California Public Utilities Commission convened the panel of
five experts last fall to probe PG&E's practices following the
fatal Sept. 9 explosion of the company's natural gas transmission
pipeline in San Bruno, Calif.
"We met many capable people at PG&E, but somehow cultural
issues ... have not created an atmosphere where inquiry, that
thinking, that curiosity meshes together in a way that the process
is fulsome," said panel member Paula Reynolds, speaking before the
commission.
The panel found that PG&E had "excessive levels of
management," an "elevated concern about the company's image [that]
may get in the way of concentrating resources to the most important
things" and "an insular mindset," all of which contribute to a
"dysfunctional culture," according to the panel's final report.
The National Transportation Safety Administration has been
investigating the cause of the explosion, which killed eight
people, injured many others and destroyed 38 homes.
While the agency's final report is still pending, it has
suggested in interim reports that poor record-keeping and a lack of
safety tests by PG&E had masked manufacturing defects in the
55-year-old pipeline.
On Wednesday, the NTSB said the San Bruno fire department had
been unaware of the large size of PG&E's transmission pipeline
and suggested that the lack of information may have "put emergency
responders at greater risk and reduce the effectiveness of the
response."
While the review panel was focused on PG&E's practices
leading up to the explosion, it also hired a consultant to review
the circumstances of the pipeline using public records compiled by
the NTSB. The consultant suggested that a 2008 sewer replacement
project by the city of San Bruno might have increased stress on one
of the pipeline's seams, which may have triggered the rupture.
However, the panel found fault with PG&E, which provided "no
ongoing field supervision.
"The individual who was responsible for the supervision had
other priorities that day and was not present throughout as the
pipeline was exposed and reburied," the panel found.
The panel also revealed that although PG&E submitted records
to NTSB investigators that incorrectly characterized the pipeline
that ruptured as being made of one, seamless piece of pipe, the
company's pipeline engineers knew that the pipe was made up of
different pieces of pipe that had been welded together. The panel
concluded that poor data management, ineffective procedures for
gathering information about its pipeline system and "inchoate" or
disorganized efforts were to blame.
"All these things are extremely deep and disturbing," said CPUC
President Michael Peevey. He added that the report is "damning for
PG&E across the board."
Peevey said the CPUC would take all the panel's recommendations
for improving the way it regulates pipeline operators "to heart"
and implement them as quickly as possible. He added that he hoped
PG&E management also would take the report "deeply to heart" as
the company searches for a new chief executive and works on a
complete overhaul of the utility and its operation of its natural
gas pipeline system.
PG&E's interim chairman and chief executive, Lee Cox, said
PG&E is "deeply sorry for the tragic accident in San Bruno" and
will "do whatever is necessary to bring our performance up to
industry-leading standards and see that an accident like the one in
San Bruno never happens again."
The review panel concluded that PG&E's utility had
inadequate pipeline maintenance and integrity management practices
in place, and that the company did not have any engineers with
pipeline training at the top levels of management.
"At PG&E, the pipeline integrity management was fairly far
down in the company," said panel member Jan Schori, a former chief
executive of the Sacramento Public Utility District who now works
as an attorney.
Schori added that even safety directives from top management
aren't enough. "It only has meaning if the top executive has enough
of an engagement to be genuinely aware and knowledgably certifying
that these safety standards are being met."
"Only one of the senior people [at PG&E] was an engineer and
that person did not have a lot of gas experience," said panel
member Karl Pister, an engineer and chancellor emeritus at the
University of California in Santa Cruz.
Among other findings, the panel concluded that PG&E's
so-called "Pipeline 2020" plan, announced after the explosion as a
way to improve pipeline safety, lacks sufficient analysis, depth
and weight. The panel also concluded that PG&E's emergency
response program was insufficient and that the company emphasized
financial performance while paying little attention to required
technical expertise.
The panel's report can be found on the CPUC website at
www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/events/110609_sbpanel.htm.
-By Cassandra Sweet, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468;
cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com
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