Building on its tradition of leadership in safety and quality compliance within the global pipeline industry, GE Oil & Gas, PII Pipeline Solutions has successfully attained third-party certification to the latest internationally recognized quality management system standard, ISO 9001: 2008.

Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), a leading third-party certification body, recently completed a series of assessments at PII Pipeline Solutions' main facilities in the USA, UK and Germany against ISO 9001: 2008, which effectively replaced ISO 9001: 2000 in November 2008. All existing certificates issued against ISO 9001: 2000 will become obsolete at the end of 2010. GE has therefore proactively secured certification well in advance of the expiry deadline.

In 1991, PII Pipeline Solutions' became the first pipeline inspection company globally to attain quality management system certification, and ISO 9001 is now the preferred standard used by over 500,000 companies around the world.

"Achieving ISO 9001: 2008 certification reflects our ongoing commitment to quality, safety and operational excellence at both our own and customer facilities globally," said John Bucci, General Manager, GE Oil & Gas, PII Pipeline Solutions. Furthermore, many international pipeline operators now expect In-Line Inspection vendors to have ISO 9001 certification as an absolute minimum, Bucci noted.

To this end, and for the first time, GE Oil & Gas - PII Pipeline Solutions’ Houston facility was also successfully assessed against two additional certification standards, in parallel to ISO 9001 certification, namely: ISO/TS 29001: Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries -- sector-specific quality management systems - requirements for product and service supply organizations; and EN 13980: 2002: Potentially explosive atmospheres - application of quality systems.

Being the first In-Line Inspection business to attain ISO/TS 29001: 2007 certification, will further underpin GE's commitment to be a world-leading pipeline integrity business. Based on ISO 9001, the ISO/TS 29001: 2007 standard sets out additional oil and gas industry specific requirements and is the international identical equivalent of API standard API Spec Q1. Both standards are complementary to API standard 1163, which defines requirements for the qualification of In-Line Inspection systems and personnel to ensure the safety and integrity of pipelines that transport gas and hazardous liquids.

Tags: GE Oil & Gas