The High Price of Inadequate Recordkeeping

Six years ago, a Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s pipeline under San Bruno California ruptured and the resulting explosion and fire killed eight people. In April 2015, the California Public Utilities Commission fined PG&E $1.6 billion for causing the San Bruno disaster. This was the largest financial punishment ever levied on an American utility. In June, the PUC voted unanimously to fine the utility an additional $25.6 million for failing to keep accurate records on its aging infrastructure according to the East Bay Times. In its decision the PUC Administrative Law Judge noted that PG&E was guilty of widespread deficiencies in its recordkeeping. “These inaccurate records were relied on for locating and marking underground facilities in anticipation of excavation. The inaccurately mapped and consequently inaccurately marked facilities led to excavators damaging the distribution system in several instances.” Six instances from 2010 to 2014 prompted regulators to open a formal probe into PG&E recordkeeping. These instances resulted in leaks, explosions and service interruptions.

AIS Software makes software solutions that manage the controlled electronic documents and procedures that industry relies on to manage its critical infrastructure. The company was started after personal friends of ours working in industry were killed because they lacked the access to the right information at a critical time. We feel that it is vitally important to a company and its community that documents and procedures are kept current and tightly controlled to maintain their accuracy and integrity. To do this properly requires a dedicated software solution that tightly controls the documents themselves and their processing while making the current revisions freely available to everyone who needs them. It is our firm belief that no industry and no community should be placed at risk due to inadequate recordkeeping.