For the purposes of the CONCAWE studies, a cross-country pipeline is defined as one which runs between two sites crossing at least two kilometres of land. The pipeline includes intermediate pump stations, valve stations, pigging facilities and any associated tankage. Pump stations at the start of the line may or may not be included depending on their relationship with the originating site. Additional members (operating networks) were added to the group of companies submitting incidents to CONCAWE in 1995, altering the parameters of the system where incidents are originating (CONCAWE, 1996 and Martin, 1996b).
In the US, the hazardous liquid pipeline operators are required to report incidents according to criteria revised in 1985 to include interstate and intrastate operators. The definition however of a reportable accident was not affected by the revision, i.e., a release and either