For nearly twenty years, Alabama 811’s APACT (Alabama Public Awareness Cooperative Training) program has provided natural gas and pipeline product operators in the state with a way to help meet their public awareness and education goals. Each year, emergency responders, excavators and public officials statewide are invited to an annual regional meeting where the operators have an opportunity to educate on how to live and work safely around their facilities, how to utilize the 811 system and how to respond if a release or incident occurred. This free education training and meals are provided in 17 different cities across Alabama annually. We encourage all excavators to attend, and we also encourage city leaders across the state to encourage your local utility operators, public works crews and emergency response groups to attend. This annual training provides critical education opportunities but also provides a face-to-face opportunity to build relationships and exchange contact information that could be beneficial in the future. The intent is to ensure that a first meeting with pipeline operators should not be at the site of an incident.
Opportunities to adapt and improve this program are always at the forefront of ensuring a quality program for all involved. For 2024 and 2025, a new partnership with the Alabama Pipeline Emergency Response Initiative (APERI) was entered into to strengthen the content of the educational program. APERI is a private-public partnership to improve pipeline safety in the state of Alabama. With its partnership with APACT, the program meets an even larger audience. The APERI instructors provide the educational content for the first responders and response to potential gas and pipeline incidents. Alabama 811 provides educational content on damage prevention related to excavation activities and programs to prevent excavation damages.
This year’s program is about to wind down, while preparations for next year are already in the works.
Meeting dates and locations for 2026 will be held from July through September and will be updated on the APACT website at www.al.pipeline-awareness.com.