Prioritizing Work & Gas Line Explosion in San Bruno

NPR did an interesting story below:







Interestingly the story notes that PG&E, the gas line operator, identified the pipeline as critical and in need of repair and even got a rate increase approved for the work. However, they never completed the repairs because of "re-prioritizing" the work. As the neighbors interviewed mention, the public doesn't know what is buried near them, however, it makes us, the utility operators look very bad when we prioritize work and then don't complete the work.

I like to use a risk matrix to look at any backlog of work and always focus on doing the work that is most critical first, whether that is daily PM/CM work or capital investments.