Friday, November 16, 2018

National Urgent Safety Recommendations (NTSB) - Massachusetts pipeline explosions

My office received from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) their interim Safety Recommendation Report on the Over-pressure of a Columbia Gas of Massachusetts Low-pressure Natural Gas Distribution System.


 Here are the recommendations from the NTSB:
       

       
To the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

1.       Eliminate the professional engineer licensure exemption for public utility work and require a professional engineer's seal on public utility engineering drawings. (P-18-005)

To NiSource, Inc.:

2.       Revise the engineering plan and constructability review process across all of your subsidiaries to ensure that all applicable departments review construction documents for accuracy, completeness, and correctness, and that the documents or plans be sealed by a professional engineer prior to commencing work. (P-18-006) (Urgent)

3.       Review and ensure that all records and documentation of your natural gas systems are traceable, reliable, and complete. (P-18-007) (Urgent)

4.       Apply management of change process to all changes to adequately identify system threats that could result in a common mode failure. (P-18-008) (Urgent)

5.       Develop and implement control procedures during modifications to gas mains to mitigate the risks identified during management of change operations. Gas main pressures should be continually monitored during these modifications and assets should be placed at critical locations to immediately shut down the system if abnormal operations are detected. (P-18-009) (Urgent)

The full interim report can be found here:
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/PSR1802.pdf

Posted by Bruce Tarr at 6:30 PM