The Benefits of Consensus Standards: A Pipeline Case Study

Author(s):  
Terry Boss ◽  
Andy Drake ◽  
Keith Leewis ◽  
Bernie Selig ◽  
John Zurcher

The pipeline industry has implemented a process for acquiring data and information necessary to support technically-based standards and regulations through techical studies and research and development (R&D). This process enabled the development of ASME B31.8S based on the technical facts gathered, drawing upon all stakeholders including Federal and State regulators, pipeline operators, manufacturers and suppliers and members of the public. This paper describes the process being used by the gas pipeline industry to develop standards such as B31.8S and provides examples of the benefits derived from standards. It examines in detail the benefits that the pipeline industry and regulators derived from the timely development of ASME B31.8S - Integrity Management of Gas Pipelines and the process used to support the standards’ development. The Office of Pipeline Safety developed a cost/benefit analysis to support the final rule on Integrity Management in High Consequence Areas. The OPS analysis indicates that the net cost for the gas pipeline industry to implement this program is now $4.7 B over the next 20 years as compared with the proposed rule based on the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 which they estimated to cost $10.9B over the same period. OPS has incorporated B31.8S into its regulations, which has significantly simplified them, yet through prescriptive requirements, has provided an equal or better level of safety as envisioned by Congress. While the timely development played a major role in the distillation of the regulations, B31.8S cannot take credit for the full $6.2B savings to the industry. The estimated savings provided by B31.8S to the industry will be described. Industry management and the regulators are encouraged to fully support the continuing development of standards for the pipeline industry utilizing the model developed by the gas pipeline industry.


2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (06) ◽  
pp. 1250034 ◽  
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR M. POPOVIC ◽  
BRANKO M. VASIC ◽  
TATJANA M. LAZOVIC ◽  
ALEKSANDAR M. GRBOVIC

Tramway transit has an important place within the public transportation system of Belgrade. However, due to the very unfavorable age structure, the bad condition of tramway tracks and infrastructure, as well as the maintenance system that require significant advancement, Belgrade tramways are in very bad repair, so the transport requirements are not properly met. The principal task of the analysis presented in this paper is to recognize and estimate the justifiability of investment into various solutions for revitalization of Belgrade tramway rolling stock. We have chosen a somewhat different from usual approach to decision making, that is, applied a combination of cost-benefit, life-cycle cost and multi-criteria analysis.



2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Samanta Petohleb Černeha ◽  
Maja Klun ◽  
Srečko Devjak

Local public investments are financed by budget funds (state, county, local), debt funds (loans or credits, municipal obligations) and non-debt funds (users’ charges and methods and techniques of public-private partnership). In this paper some theoretical issues about cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and advantages and limitations in applying it are discussed. CBA is used in the public sector in making decisions where it is relatively easy to determine the costs, but the expected benefits can be difficult to express in monetary value. To ensure an equitable quantity of financial sources according to negative difference between inflows and outflows is one of the most important goals of the project. Based on theoretical framework about CBA, a calculation was made on social profitability of the project Public sewerage and water protection in the Region of Istria. The main conclusion of this paper is that if the project achieves the social profitability, net profit and high economic internal rate of return, it is possible to accept the realization of the project.





2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Nesticò ◽  
Shuquan He ◽  
Gianluigi De Mare ◽  
Renato Benintendi ◽  
Gabriella Maselli

The process of allocating financial resources is extremely complex—both because the selection of investments depends on multiple, and interrelated, variables, and constraints that limit the eligibility domain of the solutions, and because the feasibility of projects is influenced by risk factors. In this sense, it is essential to develop economic evaluations on a probabilistic basis. Nevertheless, for the civil engineering sector, the literature emphasizes the centrality of risk management, in order to establish interventions for risk mitigation. On the other hand, few methodologies are available to systematically compare ante and post mitigation design risk, along with the verification of the economic convenience of these actions. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate how these limits can be at least partially overcome by integrating, in the traditional Cost-Benefit Analysis schemes, the As Low as Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) logic. According to it, the risk is tolerable only if it is impossible to reduce it further or if the costs to mitigate it are disproportionate to the benefits obtainable. The research outlines the phases of an innovative protocol for managing investment risks. On the basis of a case study dealing with a project for the recovery and transformation of an ancient medieval village into a widespread-hotel, the novelty of the model consists of the characterization of acceptability and tolerability thresholds of the investment risk, as well as its ability to guarantee the triangular balance between risks, costs and benefits deriving from mitigation options.



1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 95-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce R. James ◽  
Dale D. Huff ◽  
John R. Trabalka ◽  
Richard H. Ketelle ◽  
Craig T. Rightmire


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