SOUTH JERSEY GAS COMPANY — Gas distribution — incident on 2005-07-21

Gas distribution incident in MILLVILLE, CUMBERLAND County, NJ. Reported cause: 24. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 1 injuries, $700 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: 20050114.

Operator ID: 18440.

Reported incident date: 7/21/2005.

Cause detail: MISCELLANEOUS

Cause detail: ON JANUARY 24, 1994, R&T CASTELLINI COMPANY, THE COMPANY'S QUALIFIED DISTRIBUTION CONTRACTOR FOR THE CUMBERLAND DIVISION, CONSTRUCTED A NEW 3/4" POLYETHYLENE RESIDENCIAL SERVICE LATERAL EXTENSION FOR A PROPERTY AT 708 SHAR LANE BOULEVARD, IN MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY. A SERVICE LATERAL FOR THIS CORNER PROPERTY WAS INSTALLED FROM THE SIDE OF THE HOME FACING WHITALL AVENUE, AS THERE WAS NO EXISTING GAS MAIN ON SHAR LANE BOULEVARD. (A FORMER 2" BARE STEEL GAS DISTRIBUTION MAIN ALONG SHAR LAN BOULEVARD HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY RETIRED AND ABANDONED FROM SERVICE IN 1975. THIS RETIREMENT WAS EFFECTED BY CUTTING AND CAPPING THE EXISTING 2" MAIN ON WHITALL AVENUE NEAR IT'S INTERSECTION WITH SHAR LANE BOULEVARD.) IN THE COURSE OF ATTEMPTING TO ENERGIZE THE CONNECTION OF THE NEW SERVICE LATERAL TO THE DISTRIBUTION MAIN ON WHITALL AVENUE TO PROVIDE SERVICE TO 708 SHAR LANE BOULEVARD, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE PROPOSED CONNECTION POINT ON THE DISTRIBUTION MAIN WAS NOT ALONG A SECTION OF ACTIVE MAIN, BUT RATHER WAS LOCATED ON THE PREVIOUSLY RETIRED ADJACENT SECTION WHICH EXISTED ALONG WHITALL AVENUE. THEREFORE THE 1994 INSTALLATION CREW INSERTED THE 3/4" POLYETHYLENE SERVICE INTO THE ABANDONED 2" BARE STEEL MAIN ALONG WHITALL AVENUE FOR A DISTANCE OF 48', WHICH REPRESENTED THE DEAD-END LOCATION OF THE EXISTING ACTIVE MAIN ON WHITALL AVENUE. AT THIS POINT THEY EXCAVATED AND RE-CONNECTED THE END OF THE INSERTED SERVICE LINE TO THE TERMINUS OF THE EXISTING MAIN. THIS SERVICE LINE INSERTION TECHNIQUE WHITHIN THE ABANDONED 2" DISTRIBUTION MAIN ON WHITALL AVENUE WAS RECORDED ON THE AS-BUILT SERVICE RECORD CARD DOCUMENT ASSOCIATED WITH THE SERVICE INSTALLATION FOR 708 SHAR LANE BOULEVARD. THIS SAME SERVICE LINE INSERTION WAS NOT RECORDED ON THE DISTRIBUTION MAIN RETIREMENT RECORD FROM 1975. IN 2005, TWO NEW REQUESTS FOR GAS SERVICE WERE RECEIVED FOR ADDITIONAL PROPERTIES ALONG SHARE LANE BOULEVARD WHICH NECESSITATED AS DISTRIBUTION MAIN EXTENSION FROM THE TERMINUS OF THE EXISTING MAIN ON WHITALL AVENUE TO SHAR LANE BOULEVARD, AND THENCE ALONG SHAR LANE BOULEVARD FOR A TOTAL DISTANCE OF APPROXIMATELY 307'. THE LAYOUT AND DESIGN OF THIS PROPOSED DISTRIBUTION MAIN EXTENSION WAS PERFORMED IN THE FIELD BY AN EXPERIENCED COMPANY CONSTRUCTION INSPECTOR, WHO ROUTINELY PERFORMES THIS TYPE OF WORK, ALONG WITH THE ASSOCIATED INSPECTION ACTIVITIES OF SUB-CONTRACTOR INSTALLATION CREWS TO ASSURE COMPLIANCE WITH COMPANY CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS. AS PART OF HIS PROPOSED DISTRIBUTION MAIN EXTENSION LAYOUT AND DESIGN DUTIES, THE INSPECTOR OBSERVED THE LOCATIONS OF THE EXISTING METERS SUPPLYING SERVICE TO THE TWO CORNER PROPERTIES KNOWN AS 708 AND 800 SHAR LANE BOULEVARD. THE INSPECTOR ALSO OBSERVED FIELD LOCATION MARKOUTS DEPICTING THE LOCATIONS OF THE EXISTING SUB-SURFACE GAS MAIN AND SERVICES, AND INCORPORATED THESE OBSERVATIONS INTO HIS PROPOSED MAIN EXTENTION LAYOUT DESIGN. THE INSPECTOR DID NOT CROSS-CHECK THE SERVICE RECORD CARDS ON FILE IN THE DIVISIONAL OFFICE DEPICTING THE AS-BUILT INSTALLATION DETAILS FOR EITHER OF THE CORNER PROPERTIES, INSTEAD RELYING ON HIS EXPERIENCE AND THE FIELD LOCATION MARKOUTS WHICH ACCURATELY DEPICTED THE UNDERGROUND LOCATIONS OF THE SUB-SURFACE GAS FACILITIES. ON JULY 21, 2005, UTILITY LINE SERVICE (ULS), THE COMPANY'S QUALIFIED DISTRIBUTION CONTRACTOR FOR THE CUMBERLAND DIVISION WAS COMPLETING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE 2" POLYETHYLENE DISTRUBUTION MAIN EXTENSION ON SHAR LANE BOULEVARD AND WAS PREPARING TO MAKE A TIE-IN INTO THE 2" BARE STEEL MAIN ON WHITEALL AVENUE. THE ULS CREW EXCAVATED AND PREPARED THE 2" BARE STEEL MAIN FOR A WELDED TIE-IN AND WAS IN THE PROCESS OF WELDING ON A 2" MUELLER NO-BLOW TEE PIECE WHEN THE INSERTED PLYETHYLENE SERVICE LINE FAILED, AND GAS ESCAPED THROUGH AREAS OF CORROSION OF THE STEEL MAIN WHICH WAS ACTING AS A CASING FOR THE INSERTED SERVICE LINE. THE ESCAPING GAS IGNITED WITHIN THE TIE-IN EXCAVATION AREA, AND THE CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEE PERFORMING THE WELDING SUFFERED FIRST A ND SECOND DEGREE BURNS. A CREW MEMBER PROVIDING EVACUATION ASSISTANCE TO THE WELDER OUT OF THE EXCAVATION AREA SUFFERED FIRST DEGREE BURNS.SOUTH JERSEY GAS COMPANY WAS NOTIFIED IMMEDIATELY OF THE IGNITION AT 1100 HOURS AND ARRIVED ON SITE AT APPROXIMATELY 1100 HOURS. THE CONTROLLING VALVE WAS LOCATED AND SHUT DOWN AT 1135 HOURS TERMINATING GAS FLOW TO THE IGNITION SITE. LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL RESPONDED TO THE SCENE AND PROVIDED FIRE SUPRESSION, TRAFFIC CONTROL AND MEDICAL EVACUATION SERVICES FOR THE TWO INJURED CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES. ONE EMPLOYEE WAS TREATED AND RELEASED. THE OTHER EMPLOYEE WAS ADMITTED AND RETAINED OVERNIGHT FOR OBSERVATION PURPOSES, AND WAS RELEASED THE NEXT MORNING.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident, not fire-first.

PHMSA standardized cause: ALL OTHER CAUSES — MISCELLANEOUS.

PHMSA indexed costs: $700 reported total cost, $393.022 in 1984 dollars, $855.374 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.