ANR PIPELINE CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2013-08-09

Current as of 2013-08-09 Government source

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety AdministrationOfficial agency material

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Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, KENDALL County, IL. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 0.1 NATURAL GAS released, $624,643 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: 20160052.

Operator ID: 405.

Reported incident date: 8/9/2013 13:30.

Location detail: 795.4

Cause detail: OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 13:38 AUGUST 9, 2013, GAS THAT HAD LEAKED INTO THE CRANKCASE OF UNIT 1009 IGNITED, CAUSING AN EXPLOSION THAT DAMAGED THE ENGINE AND THE BUILDING. THREE TECHNICIANS RECEIVED FIRST AID ATTENTION FOR THEIR MINOR INJURIES AT A LOCAL MEDICAL CLINIC AND WERE SENT HOME. THE TECHNICIANS WERE PERFORMING MAINTENANCE TO REPLACE A WATER PUMP SHAFT SLEEVE IN THE UNIT. AFTER NUMEROUS UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO REMOVE THE EXISTING SLEEVE ON AUGUST 8, IT WAS DECIDED TO APPLY HEAT TO THE SLEEVE USING AN OXY-ACETYLENE TORCH TO TRY TO LOOSEN IT ENOUGH FOR REMOVAL. ON THE MORNING OF AUGUST 9, TWO ATTEMPTS USING HEAT WERE NOT SUCCESSFUL. THE OIL SEAL WAS REMOVED TO PROVIDE MORE WORKING ROOM. THE CREW LEFT FOR LUNCH AFTER COMPLETING THE REMOVAL OF THE OIL SEAL. UPON RETURNING, THEY APPLIED HEAT TO THE WATER PUMP SHAFT SLEEVE FOR THE THIRD TIME, IGNITING GAS THAT HAD MIGRATED INTO THE CRANKCASE IN THE ABSENCE OF THE OIL SEAL. THE EXPLOSION DAMAGED THE ENGINE AND THE BUILDING.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $624,713 reported total cost, $323,143.636 in 1984 dollars, $795,733.358 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.

This material provides agency context. It does not replace binding regulatory text, and its legal effect depends on the underlying authority and facts.