OLYMPIC PIPE LINE COMPANY — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2020-02-23

Hazardous liquid incident in BOTHELL, SNOHOMISH County, WA. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1.6 REFINED AND/OR PETROLEUM PRODUCT (NON-HVL) WHICH IS A LIQUID AT AMBIENT CONDITIONS released, $2,250 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: 20200090.

Operator ID: 30781.

Reported incident date: 2/23/2020 7:55.

Location detail: MP 86.79

Cause detail: EQUIPMENT NOT INSTALLED PROPERLY

Cause detail: ON FEBRUARY 23, 2020, A COMPANY EMPLOYEE IDENTIFIED A LEAK AT 07:55 AT MILE POST 86.79 ON THE OLYMPIC ALLEN-RENTON 20" PIPELINE. THIS LEAK OCCURRED AT A PIPELINE MAINTENANCE EXCAVATION SITE, AFTER MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES HAD COMMENCED AND BEFORE THEY HAD BEEN COMPLETED, AS THE RESULT OF AN APPARENT FAILURE IN TEMPORARY EQUIPMENT THAT HAD BEEN INSTALLED FOR THE PURPOSE OF COMPLETING THE NECESSARY MAINTENANCE. THE EMPLOYEE FOUND THAT PRODUCT HAD LEAKED AT THE THREADS BELOW A TEMPORARY 2" VALVE INSTALLED ON A 2" THREAD-O-RING (TOR) FITTING. THE FITTING AND VALVE WERE TEMPORARY AND RECENTLY HAD BEEN INSTALLED IN PREPARATION FOR A CUT-OUT OF THE 20" PIPE PLANNED FOR THE FOLLOWING WEEK. A REPAIR WAS MADE BY INSTALLING A COMPLETION PLUG IN THE TOR FITTING, RE-APPLYING PIPE SEALANT AND RE-TIGHTENING THE 2" VALVE. THE 20" PIPE SECTION AND 2" TOR FITTING/VALVE ASSEMBLY WERE LATER REMOVED FROM THE SYSTEM AS PLANNED. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EVENT DETERMINED THAT THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE RELEASE WAS DUE TO INADEQUATE TIGHTENING OF THE VALVE DURING INSTALL. THE QUALIFICATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL WHO CONDUCTED THE INSTALL WAS SUSPENDED UNTIL THE INDIVIDUAL CAN BE PROPERLY RETRAINED.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — INCORRECT INSTALLATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $27,089 reported total cost, $12,525.482 in 1984 dollars, $30,846.407 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.