Is an Individual's Risk from a Pipeline Greater Than That from Other Common Risk Sources? Case Study from Delaware County, PA

In Delaware County, Pennsylvania (Delco), two pipeline projects prompted county residents to desire a better understanding of the risks associated with the pipeline operations. In response, the Delaware County government commissioned an assessment in which potential accident events from the pipelines were identified, the associated magnitude of harmful consequence and frequencies of such events were evaluated, and the individual fatality risk measures estimated. However, due to the lack of any U.S., state, or local regulatory criteria with regards to fatality risk, a comparative evaluation was presented to provide an improved perspective when interpreting the meaning of the pipeline individual fatality risk levels.

At the completion of the project, the residents of Delaware County were presented, on pipeline transect plots, a comparison of the pipelines’ estimated individual fatality risk levels against other individual risk levels from common sources (i.e., motor vehicle accident, swimming, falls from stairs, lightning, and exposure to smoke). This paper will describe the scope, method, and results of the completed quantitative risk assessment as well as the lessons learned through the public release and discussions held between the residents of Delaware County, the Delaware County Council, and the risk consultants who completed the project.