PLAN: Engagement Considerations Throughout the Pipeline Life Cycle
As operators are building their engagement programs, it’s important to recognize that stakeholders’ interests—and their willingness to engage—may change throughout the pipeline life cycle.
RP 1185 defines the pipeline life cycle as:
- New, proposed pipeline projects
- Pipeline routing and construction activities
- Pipeline expansions, conversions, idling, and abandonments
- Operations, maintenance, integrity management, and emergency planning associated with an existing pipeline, and
- Pipeline incidents or operations that are or may appear irregular or not normal.
To provide stakeholders with equitable engagement opportunities, operators must seek information to help them understand how interests may change. These are questions to ask while seeking to identify, understand and confirm stakeholder interests and information—whether an individual, community, or group/organization—and repeated or reinforced throughout the relationship.
Also important, consider the intent of engagement activities outlined in your engagement program. Has consideration been given to making sure all stakeholders have an opportunity to participate in a meaningful way, if they choose to? Have stakeholders been asked how and when they would like to engage throughout the life cycle of a pipeline or pipeline system?
Do employees know the questions to ask or how to distill information received to make these determinations? This should be a consideration in engagement training programs.