Event Summary
Clear, usable procedures are essential to safe and consistent operations. This course is designed for operations and maintenance leaders, procedure writers, and safety teams who are responsible for developing, reviewing, or approving procedures used in day-to-day field work.
Participants will learn how to apply the NGA/ SGA Natural Gas Association, Technical Guide for Operations & Maintenance Procedure Writing to create procedures that are accurate, usable, and aligned with API RP 1173 Pipeline Safety Management System (PSMS) expectations. The course focuses on translating technical requirements, regulatory obligations, and operational knowledge into procedures that support hazard control, procedural discipline, and consistent execution in the field.
Through practical examples and best practices, the training addresses how to structure procedures, define roles and responsibilities, incorporate safety-critical steps, and ensure procedures reflect real-world conditions. Emphasis is placed on collaboration between operations, safety, and engineering to improve procedure quality, reduce variability, and support training, audits, and continuous improvement.
Attendees will receive 2 Professional Development Hours (PDH) upon completion.
Course Objectives
- Apply to the NGA/ SGA Natural Gas Association, Technical Guide for Operations & Maintenance Procedure Writing to develop clear, consistent, and field-usable procedures.
- Evaluate existing procedures to identify gaps, ambiguities, and safety-critical weaknesses.
- Design procedures that clearly define scope, roles, sequencing, and controls for safe execution of operations and maintenance tasks.
- Incorporate risk management, hazard controls, and PSMS requirements into procedure content and structure.
- Establish effective review, approval, and update processes to ensure procedures remain accurate, current, and aligned with field conditions.
Who Should Attend
O&M leaders, procedure writers, safety teams
Meet the Instructor
Mark Hereth
Managing Director, Blacksmith Group/P-PIC
Mark is a managing director of the Blacksmith Group / P-PIC which has served the energy pipeline industry since 2002. Prior to starting P-PIC, he worked for 23 years for Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. (HSB) the largest insurer of machinery and process equipment in the world. During the first 14 years of his time within HSB, Mark worked for Radian Corporation (now part of AECOM), an engineering subsidiary serving the petrochemical, petroleum refining, metals processing, pipelines and electric power industries. He joined the parent company of HSB in 1993 and ran HSB’s worldwide Chemical, Oil and Gas Insurance Operations. He testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee during Pipeline Safety Reauthorization in 2002.
He has advised Company Boards by leading independent investigations and proposing long-term plans following major accidents for PG&E, El Paso Corporation, Olympic Pipeline and Colonial Pipeline. He also served as a lead advisor for Entergy following Hurricane Katrina as they worked to emerge from bankruptcy and then successfully realized insurance recovery for major damage to their gas distribution system. Mark led the technical work within INGAA that provided the foundation for MAOP Reconfirmation and Extending Integrity Management as well as the Joint Trade Associations comments on the PHMSA proposed rule on these topics.
Mark served as Chairman of the Board of the INGAA Foundation in 2018 and has been a member since 2003. He served as the technical lead for work group developing API RP 1173, Recommended Practice for Pipeline Safety Management Systems. He was appointed by the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation in 2016 to the serve on a Federal Advisory Committee for Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on Voluntary Information Sharing. He has an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Ohio University.
