[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 17, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2613-2614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-387]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration


Pipeline Safety: Notice to Operators of Natural Gas and Hazardous 
Liquid Pipelines To Integrate Operator Qualification Regulations into 
Excavation Activities

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), 
DOT.

ACTION: Notice; issuance of Advisory Bulletin.

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SUMMARY: PHMSA is issuing this advisory bulletin to pipeline operators 
to reinforce the need for safe excavation practices and recommend that 
pipeline operators integrate the Operator Qualification regulations 
into their marking, trenching, and backfilling operations to prevent 
excavation damage mishaps.

ADDRESSES: This document can be viewed on the PHMSA home page at: 
http://www.phmsa.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joy Kadnar, (202) 366-0568, or by e-
mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    In the past few years PHMSA has seen recurring similarities in 
pipeline incidents involving excavation. In November 2005, a pipeline 
company contractor struck a 2-inch tap off an 18-inch natural gas 
transmission pipeline that was operating at more than 800 pounds per 
square inch gauge (psig). In October 2005, near an elementary school in 
Chantilly, Virginia, pipeline operator personnel struck the pipeline 
while excavating it in a Class 3 populated area. This incident resulted 
in the evacuation of more than 850 school children and area residents. 
In June 2005, a pipeline company contractor knocked a 2-inch pipe 
nipple off a 30-inch natural gas transmission pipeline while uncovering 
it. The pipeline was operating at more than 800 psig. In January 2005, 
contractor personnel being supervised by a pipeline operator struck a 
six-inch valve on a hazardous liquid pipeline while modifying it in 
preparation for an inline inspection. This accident resulted in a 
release of about 700 barrels of crude oil. In November 2004, a serious 
hazardous liquid pipeline accident in Walnut Creek, California, 
resulted in five deaths and several injuries. This accident was caused 
by a contractor installing a water main in the vicinity of a hazardous 
liquid pipeline. PHMSA is also aware of several incidents that occurred 
in the last three years on pipeline facilities owned by local 
distribution companies where pipelines have been struck near schools 
and locations where people congregate.
    Investigations by PHMSA and its State partners revealed that the 
pipeline operators involved in these incidents did not comply with 
Federal pipeline safety regulations or their own operator 
qualifications programs. Investigations found similar problems, such 
as:
     Pipeline operators did not follow their own construction, 
ditching, and backfilling specifications for existing pipelines, such 
as machine excavation, which is prohibited within two feet of existing 
pipelines;
     Construction inspectors working for pipeline operators 
failed to assist their own employees, their own contractors, and third-
party construction contractors in verifying the staked locations of the 
existing pipeline facilities; and,
     Pipeline ``as-built'' drawings were not verified and made 
available to the excavators at construction sites before or during 
excavation activity.
    From these investigations PHMSA also determined that, in many 
cases, pipeline operators did not correctly mark all pipelines in the 
vicinity of the construction and did not confirm whether all 
individuals performing the covered tasks were qualified. In one 
instance, the spotter assigned to the task at the excavation site did 
not have the necessary qualifications for observing excavation and 
backfilling tasks. In another instance, the pipeline operator did not 
follow its own maintenance manual that requires the company 
representative to review the location of the pipeline prior to 
excavation. The pipeline company representative did not verify that the 
location of the pipeline was correctly marked.

II. Advisory Bulletin (ADB-06-01)

    To: Owners and Operators of Natural Gas and Hazardous Liquid 
Pipeline Systems
    Subject: Notification on Safe Excavation Practices and the use of 
Qualified Personnel to oversee all Excavations and Backfilling 
Operations
    Advisory: Excavation damage continues to be one of the three 
leading causes of pipeline damage. PHMSA has seen an increase in 
pipeline operators damaging their own pipeline facilities. To protect 
excavators and private citizens from injury and to guard the integrity 
of buried pipelines and other underground facilities, PHMSA reminds 
operators to ensure all procedures and processes to perform excavation 
and backfilling are followed. Only qualified

[[Page 2614]]

personnel must oversee all marking, trenching, and backfilling 
operations.
    Furthermore, PHMSA reminds pipeline operators that although 
excavation is not explicitly addressed in 49 CFR parts 192 and 195, 
excavation is considered a covered task under the pipeline operator 
qualifications regulations (49 CFR 192.801-809 and 195.501-509). These 
regulations require that pipeline operators and contractors be 
qualified to perform pipeline excavation activities. A qualified 
individual is one who has been evaluated and can perform assigned 
covered tasks and can recognize and react appropriately to abnormal 
conditions.
    In particular, PHMSA recommends pipeline operators review the 
adequacy of covered tasks involving line locating, one-call 
notifications, and inspection of excavation activities. Operators 
should also review the adequacy of required training, evaluation and 
qualification methods for each of these covered tasks to ensure that 
each employee and contractor is qualified to perform that task.

    Authority: 49 U.S.C. Chapter 601; 49 CFR 1.53.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on January 10, 2005.
Theodore L. Willke,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 06-387 Filed 1-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P