Network Code
Service emergencies
SERVICE EMERGENCIES
1)
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 2
2)
SERVICE EMERGENCIES ........................................................................................................................ 2
2.1)
2.2)
TYPES OF EMERGENCY ............................................................................................................................ 2
INFORMATION ON THE EMERGENCIES ...................................................................................................... 2
3)
OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERVENTION .............................................................................................. 3
4)
PROCEDURE DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................. 3
4.1)
4.2)
4.3)
4.4)
4.5)
4.6)
5)
PERSONNEL ............................................................................................................................................. 3
VEHICLES ................................................................................................................................................ 3
COMMUNICATIONS.................................................................................................................................. 3
EMERGENCY TOOLS AND MATERIALS ...................................................................................................... 3
DOCUMENTATION FOR EMERGENCY SITUATIONS .................................................................................... 3
COLLECTION, UPDATE AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE RELEVANT DATA IN CASE OF EMERGENCY ................. 4
SNAM RETE GAS FUNCTIONS INVOLVED ..................................................................................... 4
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Network Code
1)
Service emergencies
INTRODUCTION
Snam Rete Gas has developed its own emergency procedures to cope with the
occurrence of extraordinary - unforeseen and temporary - situations, which may affect
the normal operation of its pipeline network (or which may limit significantly its
running) and may prejudice the safety of people and environment. These procedures
are contained in the document “Service emergencies”. This document defines the
organisational and implementation criteria for the designation and use of staff,
vehicles, equipment and materials to be adopted should the cases identified in the
paragraph 2 below occur: this chapter summarises the guidelines adopted by Snam
Rete Gas to manage plant emergencies, i.e. emergencies due to the temporary
unavailability of the transportation infrastructure.
The actions required to monitor and/or to intervene in case of gas supply shortage in
the system are not included in this chapter (since they are included in the chapter
“Procedure for general emergency”).
For the activities described in this chapter Snam Rete Gas will apply – as far as possible
– the current technical rules.
2)
SERVICE EMERGENCIES
2.1) Types of emergency
The types of service emergency on the Snam Rete Gas pipeline network, which may be
categorised into cases where an uncontrolled gas leakage occurs and cases where it
does not, cover the following events:
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total or partial unplanned unavailability of service of the pipelines;
total or partial unplanned unavailability of service of line plants;
total or partial unplanned unavailability of compression stations;
damage to pipelines for natural events (landslides, floods, overflows, earthquakes,
etc.).
2.2) Information on the emergencies
Snam Rete Gas will monitor the data relating to service emergencies, which describe
their fundamental aspects, such as:
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type of emergency;
date/time of the event;
description of the plant affected by the emergency;
any possible gas leakage;
description of the event and its causes;
local Snam Rete Gas Unit in charge;
subject requesting the intervention (third party; territorial units of Snam Rete Gas;
Italian Fire Department/VVFF, etc.);
responsibility for the emergency (Force Majeure; third party; Snam Rete Gas), after
the competent authority has identified such responsibility.
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Network Code
3)
Service emergencies
OBJECTIVES OF THE INTERVENTION
The procedure defined by Snam Rete Gas has the following objectives:
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4)
to resolve, as quickly as possible, any cause which may endanger the safety of
people and the environment;
to minimise, as quickly as possible, the likelihood that the extent or consequences
of the incident expand;
to limit the impact on the transportation capacity of the network;
to undertake, as quickly as possible, the actions, in relation to the emergency
situation, required to restore the normal operation of the network.
PROCEDURE DESCRIPTION
4.1) Personnel
Snam Rete Gas will define and update the personnel on-call shifts to ensure the
restoration of safe operating conditions after an emergency has occurred on its pipeline
network.
4.2) Vehicles
The Snam Rete Gas (territorial and central) units have special vehicles available to use
in the event of a possible emergency. The territorial units also maintain details of the
companies which may, with suitable advance notice, transport the materials needed
from the warehouses to the emergency site.
4.3) Communications
Snam Rete Gas has or utilises the communication tools needed to locate the available
personnel and intervene during emergency operations.
4.4) Emergency tools and materials
Snam Rete Gas predisposes the emergency tools and defines the technical
specifications for their procurement and storage.
Snam Rete Gas also defines – as part of the appropriate agreements – the tools and
methods third party companies must adopt to deal with an emergency.
Snam Rete Gas also identifies the type and quantities of materials to store at its
warehouse for use in the event of an emergency, constantly updating and maintaining
them.
4.5) Documentation for emergency situations
At the operational units of Snam Rete Gas, maps and charts of the pipeline network are
available and constantly updated.
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4.6) Collection, update and distribution of the relevant data in case of emergency
Snam Rete Gas ensures the effective communication with the Shippers involved in the
reduction or interruption of the transportation service due to emergency, in order to
define, if required, the best way to interrupt or suspend the transportation services.
As soon as it becomes apparent that there may be specific danger for people or the
environment (and which therefore may require extraordinary measures for managing
the situation), Snam Rete Gas will inform the appropriate Authorities (Prefect, Mayor,
Police, Fire Department and Harbour Offices) specifying the place, nature and size of
the event.
For the purposes of Chapters 5 and 14, Shippers must provide Snam Rete Gas, by 25th
September of each Thermal Year, with a list of names, addresses and phone numbers of
its relevant staff on call 24 hours a day, together with the same details for all their Final
Customers, to be updated in case of changes during the Thermal Year, also in order to
ensure the appropriate application of the emergency procedures described in this
chapter: this latter information allows Snam Rete Gas to inform Final Customers
promptly of the occurrence of an emergency situation on its network, outside office
hours, and to request particular actions to assure the safety of people and property.
Should this data change during the Thermal Year, Shippers must provide updates to
Snam Rete Gas on a timely basis. For this purpose, Shippers fill in in full the form
provided by Snam Rete Gas on its website, and send it to Snam Rete Gas to the
addresses and according to the methods and terms indicated in the same website.
Any notice of service emergency, actual or potential, may be communicated to the
telephone numbers of Snam Rete Gas’ local maintenance centres, published and
updated on Snam Rete Gas' website (www.snamretegas.it): these numbers are also
printed on the signs used to indicate the location of the pipelines and on the fences of
the plants above ground. Outside office hours, calls to these centres are automatically
redirected to the phone numbers of Dispatching, which is available 24 hours a day.
Snam Rete Gas will also indicate, in its website, the local maintenance centre relevant
to each Redelivery Point.
Each Shipper shall communicate to its Final Customers directly, at least once a year
and in any case of variation, the phone number of the local Snam Rete Gas
maintenance centre for any service emergency notice.
Snam Rete Gas will send to the Authority, by 31st December of each year, a report
summarising the service emergencies that occurred on its network during the previous
Thermal Year.
5)
SNAM RETE GAS FUNCTIONS INVOLVED
The occurrence of emergency situations on the Snam Rete Gas pipeline network
involves many corporate functions, including:
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Service emergencies
 Dispatching, active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which carries out a complex set
of processes designed to co-ordinate and manage the transportation system, such
as:
a) define the network organisation and perform the operations on remote
controlled systems;
b) activate the staff on call;
c) collect relevant information from Snam Rete Gas’ local control centres;
d) ensure effective communication with other functions, together with the
Shippers affected by any capacity reduction/interruption as a result of the
emergency;
e) co-ordinate the activities with the interconnected networks (foreign and other
transportation networks, storage operators, etc.);
 territorial or local units such as the Centres or the Stations that ensure complete
coverage of the transportation network and undertake first local activities in
response to the emergency: the Districts become involved by ensuring any
necessary technical and operational support for the centres and coordination with
other company structures if the emergency event requires it. In view of this need,
special coordinated and professional figures are available at these units;
 the territorial areas are defined exclusively – for the purposes of dealing with these
emergency procedures – as aggregations of more than one District. These areas
undertake actions such as:
a) appropriate operational/management decisions to manage serious events;
b) co-ordination and decision-making support of the units involved.
For each of these company functions, suitably trained personnel is on call in shifts to
intervene based on the type of network emergency.
Snam Rete Gas also enters into special contracts with third parties to supply staff,
equipment and means to carry out the steps necessary to restore normal safety and/or
operating conditions on the network.
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