NATURAL GAS PIPELINE CO OF AMERICA (KMI) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2011-08-16

Gas transmission and gathering incident in HERSCHER, KANKAKEE County, IL. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 1 injuries, 0.01 NATURAL GAS released, $1,318,206 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: 20110343.

Operator ID: 13120.

Reported incident date: 8/16/2011 9:53.

Cause detail: OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION

Cause detail: A CREW PERFORMED MAINTENANCE ON COMPRESSOR UNIT #5 TO REPAIR AN OIL LEAK BELOW THE TURBOCHARGER. TO REPAIR THE LEAK, THE CREW INTENDED TO SUPPORT THE TURBOCHARGER STAND WITH A HYDRAULIC JACK, CUT THE TWO LEGS OFF WITH A PORTABLE GRINDER, INSTALL A GASKET UNDER EACH LEG, AND THEN REPLACE EACH LEG TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION BY WELDING AT THE LOCATION OF THE CUT. THE CREW COMPLETED ALL OF THESE TASKS UP TO THE POINT OF WELDING THE SECOND LEG. THE INCIDENT OCCURRED WHEN THE CREW WAS WELDING THE SECOND LEG. IN ORDER TO HAVE SUFFICIENT ROOM TO PERFORM WORK ON THE SECOND LEG, THE CREW HAD REMOVED THE CRANKCASE BREATHER. THE CREW HAD USED PORTABLE GAS DETECTORS IN AND AROUND THE WORK AREA, BUT THEY FAILED TO POSITION THE PORTABLE GAS DETECTORS INSIDE THE CRANKCASE, SO THE CREW WAS NOT AWARE THAT THERE WAS COMBUSTIBLE GAS IN THE CRANKCASE. AFTER PERFORMING A POST-INCIDENT INVESTIGATION, IT IS BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS EXCESSIVE LEAKAGE OF THE PACKING GLAND SEALS, WHICH RESULTED IN THE GAS MIGRATING TO THE CRANKCASE.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $1,413,979 reported total cost, $758,435.305 in 1984 dollars, $1,867,575.277 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.