Vehicular Impact Protection - Design

Northern Gas Networks operate thousands of pieces of pressure reduction equipment dotted across the network. A Governor is a type of pressure reduction equipment. They are often situated in locations that make them susceptible to the risk of being impacted by a vehicle.

There are various types of governors and they all form a vital part of the gas network infrastructure. They vary in size, complexity, criticality; some are built predominantly below ground, although parts of the installation would remain above ground. Regardless of the type of governor, it remains important to ensure that the risk of damage is mitigated as much as reasonably possible.

The Gas Distribution Networks have been instructed to review their asset data with focus on assessing the risk of vehicular impact. In instances where the risk was deemed to be intolerable, mitigation measures are now required, one of which is impact protection.

The standards applied to road restraint systems can be challenging to meet, specifically when applied to relatively small assets with limited amount of free space surrounding them. Therefore, an experienced designer is required who understands these complexities and is able to explore the various measures that could be used in mitigating the risk of impact. In addition to that, the designer must consider the asset and its location, understand the policies and procedures associated with maintaining it and combine the findings into a constructable proposal. Furthermore, the designer must also have the experience of stakeholder liaison to ensure that the proposals submitted are accepted by the relevant stakeholders, which includes the local authority and their highways division.

NGN broadly estimates a total requirement for 100 - 150 designs to be undertaken with an approximate requirement for 30 over the next 6 months or so. These are high level estimates and as such are subject to change and more work needs to be done to finalise the requirement.