The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that human error is increasingly a factor contributing to pipeline leaks, says the National Energy Board. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that in the past three years, incorrect operation has caused an average of 20 leaks a year. That is up from an average of four annually in the previous six years. Saint Mary's University Professor Mark Fleming says, "It's both probably one of the most difficult things for an organization to deal with, but also the most important." He says operators have made improvements in safety practices, but to achieve the higher levels of safety required by other industries such as the airline or nuclear power sectors would require extreme attention to detail. Prof. Fleming says: "Safety, particularly very high levels of safety, requires constant attention and effort. And the tendency is for it to degrade." Pipelines installed in the United States in the past five years have the highest rate of failure of any built since the 1920s, and human error is partially to blame, says Pipeline Safety Trust director Carl Weimer. He says many new pipelines being put in the ground are not being installed right.