# NTSB Safety Recommendation P-70-023 - **operation:** document - **citation:** P-70-023 - **title:** NTSB Safety Recommendation P-70-023 - **source type:** guidance - **agency:** National Transportation Safety Board - **status:** guidance - **official:** true - **published on:** 1969-12-04 - **effective on:** 1969-12-04 - **summary:** THE NTSB RECOMMENDS THAT ALL STATES, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND PUERTO RICO TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION: INCLUDE IN THEIR STANDARDS A PROVISION THAT EXISTING REGULATOR STATIONS SUPPLYING LOW-PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS BE UPGRADED TO COMPLY WITH THE STANDARDS FOR NEWLY CONSTRUCTED REGULATOR STATIONS AS SPECIFIED IN USAS B31.8. - **machine formats:** - **json:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/ntsb-recommendation-p-70-023.json - **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/ntsb-recommendation-p-70-023.md - **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/ntsb-recommendation-p-70-023 - **source url:** https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-main-public/sr-details/P-70-023 **body:** NTSB safety recommendation P-70-023. THE NTSB RECOMMENDS THAT ALL STATES, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND PUERTO RICO TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION: INCLUDE IN THEIR STANDARDS A PROVISION THAT EXISTING REGULATOR STATIONS SUPPLYING LOW-PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS BE UPGRADED TO COMPLY WITH THE STANDARDS FOR NEWLY CONSTRUCTED REGULATOR STATIONS AS SPECIFIED IN USAS B31.8. Priority: CLASS II Overall Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Issued Date: 1969-12-04 Adopted Date: 1969-12-04 Overall Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Synopsis: ON JUNE 3, 1969, A SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES OCCURRED IN THE NATURAL GAS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN THE WESTERN HALF OF THE GLEN PARK RESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISION OF GARY, INDIANA. THERE WERE NO FATALITIES, BUT NINE RESIDENTS AND FIVE FIREMEN WERE INJURED. SEVEN HOUSES WERE DESTROYED, AND 45 OTHERS INCURRED DAMAGE EXTENDING FROM MINOR TO VIRTUAL DESTRUCTION. TOTAL PROPERTY DAMAGE WAS ABOUT $350,000. Probable Cause: The Board finds that the probable cause of this accident was a combination of personnel error and system inadequacy. Involved were the inadvertent opening of a separation valve by a gas company employee allowing gas at 20 p.s.i.g. to flow into a 1/4 p.s,i,g. system and a system which could not control adequately such an increase in pressure owing to the lack of overpressure protection devices. Thereafter, the increase in pressure caused the failure of a regulator diaphragm which allowed an 80-fold overpressure in the low-pressure system to become continuous for 30 - 45 minutes. Significant contributing causal factors were: 1. The inaccessibility of the shutoff valve for the regulator which failed. 2. The lack of systematic review of the hazards in the conversion operation which could have revealed the hazardous condition in which one human error could produce catastrophe, coupled with the lack of a written plan for conversion. 3. The absence in Code B31.8 of any specification of safeguards to be employed at separation (isolation) valves during pressure conversions. 4. The lack of complete leakage surveys, before and during the pressure increase in the eastern area, which would have probably disclosed and leaking condition of the pipe and avoided the major leaks which occurred on June 3, 1969. Ntsbnumber: DCA69FP004 Report Number: PAR-UNNUMBERED Addressee Name: State of Wyoming Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of West Virginia Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Washington Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: Commonwealth of Virginia Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Vermont Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Utah Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Texas Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Tennessee Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of South Dakota Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of South Carolina Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Rhode Island Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Oregon Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Oklahoma Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Ohio Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of North Dakota Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of North Carolina Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of New York Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of New Mexico Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of New Jersey Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of New Hampshire Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Nevada Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Nebraska Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Montana Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Missouri Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Mississippi Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Minnesota Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Michigan Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Maryland Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Maine Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Louisiana Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: Commonwealth of Kentucky Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Kansas Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Iowa Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Indiana Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Illinois Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Idaho Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Hawaii Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Georgia Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Florida Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Delaware Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Connecticut Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Colorado Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of California Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Arkansas Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Arizona Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Alaska Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: State of Alabama Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 Addressee Name: District of Columbia Addressee Status: Closed--No Longer Applicable Addressee Date Closed: 1976-07-20 - 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