Solem Pipeline Safety Consulting, LLC
Pipeline Safety Tips
Latest Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month
March 27, 2026
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -March 2, 2026- Solem Pipeline Safety Consulting LLC – Missing Required Relevant Factors for Supplemental Public Awareness Messages
Operators often miss considering some of the relevant factors that must be reviewed when considering supplemental enhancements to the baseline […]
Read full tipMarch 27, 2026
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -February 2, 2026- Solem Pipeline Safety Consulting LLC – How an Operator Proves an Atmospheric Coating is Suitable to Prevent Atmospheric Corrosion
When I inspected for atmospheric corrosion, operators often had difficulty finding records to demonstrate their atmospheric coatings were suitable for […]
Read full tipJanuary 2, 2026
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -1-2-2026 – Surface Prep before Applying Coating and Paint
Different underground pipe girth weld coatings and different atmospheric paint coatings have varying surface prep standards. PHMSA expects operators to […]
Read full tipJanuary 2, 2026
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -12-1-2025 – “Shoulds” Become “Shalls” in Incorporated by Reference Standards
A common misunderstanding in using incorporated by reference (IBR’d) standards is reading the “shoulds” in those standards as optional. When […]
Read full tipJanuary 2, 2026
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -11-3-25- Not Interrupting Foreign Rectifiers in Tank Farms
To account for IR drop, operators must interrupt foreign rectifiers as well as their own that affect the area. In […]
Read full tipJanuary 2, 2026
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -10-1-2025 – Pressure Test Recordkeeping
Pressure tests under 192.500 and 195.310 require the records noted far below. From my inspections of hydrostatic pressure test records, […]
Read full tipSeptember 3, 2025
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -September 2, 2025- P&M Measures Not Above Code
In my inspections of gas integrity management and hazardous liquids integrity management, I cited several operators for preventative and mitigative […]
Read full tipSeptember 3, 2025
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month -8-1-25- Top Distribution UNSATS
I used to belong to the NASPR-PHMSA Distribution Team. In 2022 that team presented the top unsatisfactory inspection questions for […]
Read full tipSeptember 3, 2025
July 1, 2025 Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month – Public Awareness – Other Languages
One of my common findings when inspecting public awareness plans was a lack of specificity regarding other language parameters in […]
Read full tipJune 21, 2025
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month – June 2, 2025
Jeeping (holiday -coating void- detection) voltages used to detect holidays in pipe coating prior to lowering in newly constructed pipe […]
Read full tipJune 21, 2025
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month – 5-1-2025
PHMSA field inspections of breakout tanks typically include a check for a 1 % slope away from the tank bottom […]
Read full tipJune 21, 2025
Pipeline Safety Tip of the Month – April 1, 2025
The term nominal diameter is used with different meanings in different parts of pipeline code. Be careful you understand the […]
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