PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2012-10-04

Gas transmission and gathering incident in SUNNYVALE, SANTA CLARA County, CA. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3200 NATURAL GAS released, $0 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: 20120110.

Operator ID: 15007.

Reported incident date: 10/4/2012 17:52.

Location detail: 109 MP 6.7

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY OPERATOR'S CONTRACTOR (SECOND PARTY)

Cause detail: EXCAVATION ISSUE

Cause detail: IMPROPER EXCAVATION PRACTICE NOT LISTED ABOVE

Cause detail: ON OCTOBER 4, 2012, AT APPROXIMATELY 1752 HOURS, A PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC (PG&E) CONTRACTOR, SNELSON, NOTIFIED PG&E OF A GAS RELEASE DUE TO A DIG IN ON LINE 109 IN MOUNTAIN VIEW. PG&E WAS PERFORMING CLEARANCE WORK FOR A HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE TEST ON LINE 109. A CANUS INSPECTOR WAS HIRED TO PERFORM STAND-BY DUTIES AND A SNELSON OPERATOR WAS HIRED TO EXCAVATE A BELL HOLE IN PREPARATION OF INSTALLING A 22-INCH ISOLATION CAP FOR THE 20 MILE CLEARANCE. THE CANUS EMPLOYEE, ALLOWED THE SNELSON OPERATOR TO DIG WITH AN EXCAVATOR, WITHIN TWO FEET OF THE 22-INCH PIPELINE, WHEN THE OPERATOR STRUCK AN ABANDONED 3/4-INCH TEE OFF OF LINE 109. THE CREW HAD PROPERLY IDENTIFIED THE TRANSMISSION PIPELINE, BUT THE CANUS STAND-BY INSPECTOR FAILED TO DIRECT THE OPERATOR TO FULLY EXPOSE AND PROTECT THE PIPE PRIOR TO USING AN EXCAVATOR. THE CANUS EMPLOYEE WAS OPERATOR QUALIFIED TO PERFORMED STAND BY ON THE PIPELINE, BUT VIOLATED PROPER WORK PROCEDURES AND WAS TERMINATED FROM THE JOB. WHEN THE INCIDENT OCCURRED, WORKERS WERE EVACUATED FROM THE SITE AND THE AREA WAS BLOCKED OFF. BECAUSE PG&E WAS IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING A CLEARANCE TO BLOW THE LINE DOWN, THE AREA WAS MADE SAFE AND PG&E ALLOWED THE GAS TO CONTINUE TO VENT TO THE ATMOSPHERE. PG&E'S LOCAL EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (EOC) OPENED ON-SITE ON OCTOBER 5, 2012 AND REMAINED NEAR THE SITE OF THE DIG IN WHERE GAS WAS VENTING TO ATMOSPHERE UNTIL THE FLOW OF GAS WAS STOPPED ON OCTOBER 5, 2012 AT 2000 HOURS. AT THAT TIME, THE LINE WAS ISOLATED AND THE END CAPS WERE WELDED ON IN PREPARATION FOR THE HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE TEST. THERE WERE NO INJURIES, NO FATALITIES AND NO IGNITION AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT. NO CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCED SERVICE INTERRUPTION. DAMAGES ARE LESS THAN $50,000. THIS INCIDENT WAS REPORTED TO THE CPUC AND DOT WHEN THE AMOUNT OF GAS RELEASED WAS DETERMINED TO BE UNINTENTIONAL AND GREATER THAN 3 MMCF. PG&E HAS DETERMINED THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT TO BE FAILURE TO VERIFY PROPER OPERATION, TOOLS AND PROCEDURAL DISREGARD. PG&E'S WP 4412P-05 ATTACHMENT 1 STATES THAT POWER EXCAVATION IS NOT PERMITTED WITHIN 12-INCHES OF THE FACILITY. THE POWER EQUIPMENT STRUCK THE AFFECTED TEE FITTING 4-INCHES FROM THE GAS PIPELINE. THE CORRECTIVE ACTION FOR THIS INCIDENT WAS FOR GAS TRANSMISSION CONSTRUCTION AND PSEP (SAFETY) TO DISCUSS THE INCIDNET WITH SNELSON AND CANUS SAFETY SUPERVISION WITH EMPHASIS ON NON-ADHERENCE TO PG&E (WP 4412P-05 AND WP 4412P-05 ATTACHMENT #1) AND USA NORTH'S CONSTRUCTION MANUAL: GENERAL EXCAVATION INFORMATION PROCEDURES. THIS CORRECTIVE ACTION ITEM WAS COMPLETED ON OCTOBER 9, 2012.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — OPERATOR/CONTRACTOR EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $35,800 reported total cost, $22,186.527 in 1984 dollars, $43,501.496 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.