# Pipeline Safety: Strapping Table Calibration for Pipeline Breakout Tank Operators

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** PHMSA Guidance, Pipeline Safety: Strapping Table Calibration for Pipeline Breakout Tank Operators
- **title:** Pipeline Safety: Strapping Table Calibration for Pipeline Breakout Tank Operators
- **source type:** guidance
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** guidance
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 2005-04-06
- **effective on:** 2005-04-06
- **summary:** Pipeline Safety: Strapping Table Calibration for Pipeline Breakout Tank Operators Document 05-6729.pdf (140.01 KB) This advisory notice alerts pipeline operators of all hazardous liquid pipeline facility systems about the need to validate the accuracy of breakout tank strapping tables. Under certain circumstances, strapping table errors can potentially lead to dangerous conditions. Issued Date: Wednesday, April 6, 20
- **machine formats:** - **json:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-guidance-pipeline-safety-strapping-table-calibration-pipeline-breakout-e91e0a72.json
- **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-guidance-pipeline-safety-strapping-table-calibration-pipeline-breakout-e91e0a72.md
- **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-guidance-pipeline-safety-strapping-table-calibration-pipeline-breakout-e91e0a72
- **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/regulatory-compliance/phmsa-guidance/pipeline-safety-strapping-table-calibration-pipeline-breakout
**body:**

Pipeline Safety: Strapping Table Calibration for Pipeline Breakout Tank Operators

Document

 05-6729.pdf (140.01 KB)

        This advisory notice alerts pipeline operators of all hazardous liquid pipeline facility systems about the need to validate the accuracy of breakout tank strapping tables. Under certain circumstances, strapping table errors can potentially lead to dangerous conditions. 

          Issued Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2005

<<<PAGE 1>>>

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 65 / Wednesday, April 6, 2005 / Notices
17509
[FR Doc. 05–6803 Filed 4–5–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–60–M
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
Pipeline Safety: Strapping Table
Calibration for Pipeline Breakout Tank
Operators
AGENCY: Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS),
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice; issuance of advisory
bulletin.
SUMMARY: This advisory notice alerts
pipeline operators of all hazardous
liquid pipeline facility systems about
the need to validate the accuracy of
breakout tank strapping tables. Under
certain circumstances, strapping table
errors can potentially lead to dangerous
conditions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joy
Kadnar by phone at (202) 366–0568, by
fax at (202) 366–4566, or by e-mail,
joy.kadnar@dot.gov. General
information about the Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration’s Office of Pipeline
Safety (OPS) programs may be obtained
by accessing the home page at http://
ops.dot.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A breakout tank exploded and
subsequently ignited in Glenpool,
Oklahoma on April 7, 2003. The
accident involved an 80,000-barrel
breakout tank that exploded and burned
as it was being filled with diesel. The
resulting fire burned for over 20 hours
and damaged two other nearby breakout
tanks. While there were no injuries or
fatalities, the cost of the accident
exceeded two million dollars, residents
adjacent to the accident site were
evacuated, and area schools were closed
for two days.
The National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB) conducted an
investigation into the accident and
subsequently published a Pipeline
Accident Report titled ‘‘Storage Tank
Explosion and Fire in Glenpool,
Oklahoma.’’ In its findings adopted on
October 13, 2004, the NTSB issued a
recommendation to OPS to issue an
advisory bulletin to liquid pipeline
operators to validate the accuracy of
their tank strapping tables.
The breakout tank that exploded
contained an internal floating roof
system equipped with pontoons that
float on top of the product at a certain
level. The tank also had legs that
supported the roof whenever the
product was drained and the volume of
liquid in the tank decreased to the level
at which the roof no longer floated.
Additionally, the tank had two
Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition System (SCADA) alarms to
alert controllers when the volume was
nearing the level at which the roof
would no longer float. The alarm set
points were based on the landed height
of the floating roof assumed in the
operator’s strapping table.
NTSB determined that based on the
height measurement of the floating roof
documented on the construction
inspection report, and based on
measurements investigators made after
the accident, the strapping table was
incorrect. Specifically, the distance from
the bottom of the pontoon to the datum
plate was found to be higher than
indicated on the pre-accident strapping
table. The surface of the charged diesel
was within approximately two inches of
the pontoons at the time of the
explosion. This, according to NTSB, is
the most likely time for a static
discharge to occur. Based on this
finding, as well as other contributing
factors, the NTSB determined that an
incorrect measurement on the strapping
table contributed to the cause(s) of the
accident.
II. Advisory Bulletin ADB–05–02
To: Owners and Operators of All
Pipeline Facilities Who Rely on
Strapping Tables to Determine Volume
Based on Measured Height For Product
Level.
Subject: Validation of Strapping
Tables to Reduce the Likelihood of
Errors That May Lead to Dangerous
Conditions in Breakout Tanks.
Purpose: To advise owners and
operators of all hazardous liquid
pipeline facilities about the need to
validate strapping tables.
Advisory: Strapping Tables are
commonly used to determine the
commodity volume based on product
level within breakout tanks. If the
strapping table is incorrect, operators
may expose themselves and the
community to unnecessary risks.
OPS seeks to advise operators that
they should review and, if necessary,
revise their breakout tank operating
procedures to minimize risk. The
strapping tables should be validated to
reduce the potential for errors that may
lead to dangerous conditions, such as
static discharge inside a tank after a
floating roof has been either
intentionally or unintentionally landed.
Pipeline operators, therefore, may need
to adjust the measurements on their
strapping tables to ensure accuracy.
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 18,
2005.
Theodore L. Willke,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Pipeline
Safety.
[FR Doc. 05–6729 Filed 4–5–05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–60–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration
[Docket No. RSPA–04–19914; Notice 1]
Pipeline Safety: Petition for Waiver;
Enstar Natural Gas Company
AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA), U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice; Petition for Waiver.
SUMMARY: Enstar Natural Gas Company
(Enstar) has petitioned the Office of
Pipeline Safety (OPS) for a waiver of the
pipeline safety regulation that prohibits
tracer wire from being wrapped around
the pipe.
DATES: Persons interested in submitting
written comments on the waiver request
described in this Notice must do so by
May 6, 2005. Late filed comments will
be considered so far as practicable.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written
comments by mailing or delivering an
original and two copies to the Dockets
Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, Room PL–401, 400
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC
20590–0001. The Dockets Facility is
open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except on Federal
holidays when the facility is closed.
Alternatively, you may submit written
comments to the docket electronically at
the following Web address: http://
dms.dot.gov.
All written comments should identify
the docket and notice numbers stated in
the heading of this notice. Anyone who
wants confirmation of mailed comments
must include a self-addressed stamped
postcard. To file written comments
electronically, after logging on to
http://dms.dot.gov, click on ‘‘Comment/
Submissions.’’ You can also read
comments and other material in the
docket. General information about the
Federal pipeline safety program is
available at http://ops.dot.gov.
Anyone is able to search the
electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the
name of the individual submitting the
VerDate jul<14>2003 18:17 Apr 05, 2005 Jkt 205001 PO 00000 Frm 00108 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\06APN1.SGM 06APN1
- **truncated:** false
- **body characters:** 7152
