The system inspection is divided into the following areas: 

• Inspection of pipeline routes
• Auxiliary facilities
• Pipeline leakage tests
• Cathodic corrosion prevention

During its inspection of the operating company, the Federal Pipelines Inspectorate (FPI) examines whether the organisation and the skills of the employees meet the stringent requirements placed on the operation of such pipelines. In concrete terms, for example, it conducts emergency drills in order to test the operator’s reaction capability, emergency organisation and teamwork with the public emergency services.

Regular inspections of the operational regulations of individual operators ensure that they are systematically capable of responding, e.g. in emergency situations. The key aspects of operational regulations are: organisation, responsibilities, description of the operator, description of the systems and information regarding incident prevention.