The Dutch State must exert adequate supervision of the safety management carried out by gas network operators. This forms one of the conclusions of the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) after examining around seven individual incidents. The Dutch Parliament is also exerting pressure upon the Government to maintain adequate supervision of the integrity of the gas transportation networks. Partly due to the fact that State Supervision of Mines already fulfils the role of supervisory body for the integrity of transportation pipelines that fall within the scope of the Mining Act, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has decided to designate SSM as the supervisory authority for safety aspects associated with gas transportation pipelines that fall within the scope of the Gas Act. The other designated supervisory authority is the Office of Energy Regulation (Energiekamer), which forms a chamber within the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) and supervises the markets in accordance with the legislation governing the gas industry. The Ministerial regulation governing quality aspects in the management of electricity and gas networks (MRQ) contains articles that relate to market-related and safety aspects. For this reason, it is essential that a clear demarcation be established of the responsibilities of SSM, on the one hand and of the Office of Energy Regulation on the other and that the collaboration between them be effectively defined. This demarcation has been laid down in the form of a collaboration agreement. All other pipelines used for the transportation of natural gas up to the point of delivery to (small-scale) users are not governed by the Mining Act but by the Gas Act. The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment will now draw up external safety regulations for pipelines containing hazardous substances. In the case of natural gas, this involves pipelines with a supply pressure exceeding 16 bar and encompasses almost all transportation networks that fall within the scope of the Mining Act, the entire pipeline network of the Gasunie, in addition to two other small gas pipeline networks in the province of Zeeland.
The mining companies themselves fulfil the role of network managers in respect of their own pipeline systems. The supervision of pipelines that are used for the extraction of minerals is governed by the mining legislation and the supervisory authority itself assesses the Health and Safety systems, the 'Pipeline Integrity Management System' and the Health and Safety documents of the mining companies themselves. At the time of writing, the supervision of pipelines that fall within the scope of the Gas Act is still under development.
The Mining Regulations also contain no specific provisions with regard to the aspect of external safety and the demarcation between integrity and external safety has not been clearly defined. The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment intends to develop regulations to ensure the external safety of pipelines, though it is not yet clear what the consequences of this will be for the mining sector. At the present time, the Gas Act imposes only very scanty requirements with regard to safety.
With regard to underground excavation activities (groundworks), the Ministry of Economic Affairs has developed regulations of its own and these regulations impose specific requirements to the groundworks contractors, commissioning bodies and network managers. These regulations will be supervised by the Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands (AT). All activities undertaken in relation to pipelines are subject to the Working Conditions legislation and all offshore pipelines that do not fall within the scope of the Mining Act are subject to the Public Works (Management of Engineering Structures) Act [Wet Beheer Rijkswaterstaatswerken], and the North Sea Directorate of the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (RWS) is the relevant supervisory body. Both on a global as well as on a European level, standards are under development for the management of pipeline systems (PIMS - Pipeline Integrity Management System) and pipeline systems carrying a pressure that exceeds 16 bar are subject to the NEN 3650 standard and pipeline systems carrying a pressure below 16 bar are subject to the NEN 7244 standard. In official terms, a total of five supervisory bodies are active in the same domain (the Electricity Act Implementation and Supervisory Service (DTe), the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (I-VROM), the Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands (AT), the North Sea Directorate of the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (RWS) and SSM), which means that transparency and collaboration will be essential.
As a result of the above, the following initiatives have now been put forward:
- The conclusion of a collaboration agreement between SSM and the other supervisory authorities NMa-DTe, I-VROM and AT relating to the supervision of pipelines in accordance with the Mining Act and the Gas Act
- The development, in conjunction with the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, of a uniform supervision model for pipeline networks
- The issuing of recommendations regarding essential amendments to the Gas Act regarding matters relating to safety
- Consultations between the North Sea Directorate of the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management regarding the supervisory activities carried out by SSM with regard to transmission pipelines that fall within the scope of the Public Works (Management of Engineering Structures) Act, leading, if necessary to the conclusion of a collaboration agreement with that organisation.
