API RP 1173 Pipeline Safety Management Systems, First Edition, July 2015, is a voluntary recommended practice that was specifically prepared for the pipeline industry. Pipeline operators already use a variety of safety management systems (formal and informal) to satisfy regulations and internal expectations for safety management, and many of these systems address various requirements of RP 1173.

Pipeline operators may want to take the steps necessary to verify that their existing safety management systems explicitly conform with some or all of the requirements of RP 1173, and to modify them as needed.

Pipeline SMS Planning Tool

The Planning Tool as the name implies, is designed to assist an operator with development of their initial implementation plan. It can be used to conduct a gap analysis to compare an operator’s existing system to the requirements of API RP 1173 to identify and rank various options to close the gaps, and to assign responsibilities.

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Instructions: Pipeline SMS Planning Tool

This guide explains an implementation spreadsheet which can be used by pipeline operators to help them review their current management systems and programs against the requirements of API RP 1173, to identify any gaps, and to develop plans to address each gap.

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