# PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC & GAS CO — Gas distribution — incident on 1996-08-28

**Citation:** PHMSA Report 19960136  
**Type / status:** incident / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** 1996-08-28  
**Published:** 1996-09-10

Gas distribution incident in LONG HILL, MORRIS County, NJ. Reported cause: DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCES. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 1 injuries, $0 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident.

## Document text

Gas distribution incident in LONG HILL, MORRIS County, NJ. Reported cause: DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCES. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 1 injuries, $0 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.

Report number: 19960136.

Operator ID: 15952.

Reported incident date: 19960828.

Cause detail: WHILE USING AN OXYACETYLENE TORCH TO CUT METAL GRATING, A LONG HILL TOWNSHIPBOARD OF EDUCATION EMPLOYEE BURNED A HOLE IN A 1 1/4" PLASTIC 60 PSI DESIGN GAS SERVICE WHICH CAUSED AN IGNITION. THE INDIVIDUAL SUSTAINED SERIOUS BURNS AND WAS TRANSPORTED TO ST. BARNABAS HOSPITAL, LIVINGTON, NJ WHERE HE WAS ADMITTED.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $0 reported total cost, $0 in 1984 dollars, $0 in current-year dollars.

PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge/files/7ccf83c5-a778-4c51-ba2d-a9a84e221c7b?download=true&filename=Gas%20Distribution%20Incident%20Data%20-%20mid%201984%20to%20February%202004.zip>
- Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents`
- SHA-256: `b527a80ce9fa268d55b2052ae418b9d20c2b17953917ea679cc96b5e0e58ca60`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z
- Exported: 2026-08-24T15:41:39.222Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-incident-4603ec6ab25c3c2fe4256c46`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "recordKind": "pipeline_incident",
  "datasetType": "gas_distribution",
  "datasetLabel": "Gas distribution",
  "datasetPeriod": "mid 1984 to February 2004",
  "report": {
    "number": "19960136",
    "supplementalNumber": null,
    "type": null,
    "receivedDate": "1996-09-10",
    "receivedDateRaw": "19960910"
  },
  "operator": {
    "id": "15952",
    "name": "PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC & GAS CO"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "1996-08-28",
    "dateRaw": "19960828"
  },
  "location": {
    "city": "LONG HILL",
    "county": "MORRIS",
    "state": "NJ",
    "postalCode": null,
    "latitude": null,
    "longitude": null,
    "type": null,
    "details": {},
    "facilityName": null
  },
  "cause": {
    "category": "DAMAGE BY OUTSIDE FORCES",
    "details": {
      "NARRATIVE": "WHILE USING AN OXYACETYLENE TORCH TO CUT METAL GRATING, A LONG HILL TOWNSHIPBOARD OF EDUCATION EMPLOYEE BURNED A HOLE IN A 1 1/4\" PLASTIC 60 PSI DESIGN GAS SERVICE WHICH CAUSED AN IGNITION. THE INDIVIDUAL SUSTAINED SERIOUS BURNS AND WAS TRANSPORTED TO ST. BARNABAS HOSPITAL, LIVINGTON, NJ WHERE HE WAS ADMITTED."
    }
  },
  "consequences": {
    "fatalities": 0,
    "injuries": 1,
    "commodity": null,
    "release": null,
    "propertyDamage": 0,
    "estimatedOperatorCost": null,
    "estimatedEmergencyCost": null,
    "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null,
    "ignition": null,
    "explosion": null,
    "evacuated": null,
    "raw": {
      "FAT": "0",
      "INJ": "1",
      "PRPTY": "0"
    }
  },
  "provenance": {
    "viewId": "27nc-rsge",
    "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge",
    "assetId": "7ccf83c5-a778-4c51-ba2d-a9a84e221c7b",
    "archiveFilename": "Gas Distribution Incident Data - mid 1984 to February 2004.zip",
    "archiveSha256": "faf20de4eb8fe04e84e6ec6704517de9f4f59755ba8dae865881822ffe5d336f",
    "memberPath": "incident_gas_distribution_mid1984_feb2004.txt",
    "memberSha256": "160b048435c0ab62f776d36b69451902e8337a5cdaa7d28aa5247166783cfe65",
    "rowNumber": 1896,
    "rowSha256": "559ccdf544f8eec635c1fe979aede3ae703924456e9aed9ae2c99de0fc61beda"
  },
  "caveat": "Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.",
  "operatorReported": true,
  "finalAgencyFinding": false,
  "flaggedAnalysis": {
    "dataAsOf": "2026-07-31",
    "flags": {
      "fireFirst": null,
      "significant": true,
      "serious": true
    },
    "standardizedCause": {
      "sevenCategory": "EXCAVATION DAMAGE",
      "sevenSubcategory": "THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE",
      "eightCategory": null,
      "eightSubcategory": null
    },
    "costs": {
      "reported": 0,
      "in1984Dollars": 0,
      "currentYearDollars": 0
    },
    "caveat": "PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.",
    "provenance": {
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/data_statistics/pipeline/PHMSA_Pipeline_Safety_Flagged_Incidents.zip",
      "landingPageUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files",
      "catalogUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/Pipelines-and-Hazmat/Pipeline-Incident-Flagged-Files/qdme-9bbm",
      "retrievalMode": "official_live",
      "archivedAt": null,
      "archiveSha256": "317e6a3e16d60b9b677efe391dc40258b5dd7ead83fb8bea74cb553cedfbbdec",
      "workbook": "gd1986tofeb2004.xlsx",
      "sheet": "gd1986tofeb2004",
      "rowNumber": 1490,
      "rowSha256": "ebd44825e1fef341a2858340f3d258f220b82513ca209783a97632172b501148"
    }
  },
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "PUBLIC SERVICE ELECTRIC & GAS CO"
}
```