Mechanical Damage Prevention

An SGA Web Conference Series of 5 Sessions

Session 3 – Tuesday, February 20, 2007 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM CT

• Panel Discussion
• Locates & Marks (3 Operator Panel)
• Excavation Practices (Panel) - API-1166
• State Regulatory Program
• Mapping & Locates R&D Program
  
  

See the 140 slides - 2 slides per page PDF grayscale (click to download)
See the 140 slides - 1 slide per page PDF color (click to download)

Play the recording (click to access)

See the Session 3 Summary

The Presenters

SGA is proud to have Tim Kasprzyk, Burt Williams, Timothy Vaughan, Al Jimison and Massoud Tahamtani as presenters for this session and thanks them for their participation -

Tim Kasprzyk Director, Safety & Damage Prevention TECO Peoples Gas	Tim Kasprzyk is the Director, Safety and Damage Prevention for TECO Peoples Gas based in Tampa, Florida.  He has over 25 years of experience in the gas industry.  In his current position, he is responsible for the overall company policy and direction for safety and damage prevention.  He is also responsible for Labor Relations, Integrity Management, Operator Qualification, Technical Training, and Emergency Preparedness. Over the years, Tim has served on various committees within SGA.  He is currently the Chairman of the Safety and Training Committee for the Florida Natural Gas Association, serves on the Board of Directors for the Tampa Area Safety Council, and is recently appointed to serve as Member at Large of the ASME B31 Qualification of Pipeline Personnel Technical Committee.
Burt Williams Gas Construction Coordinator City of Mesa, Gas Division	As Gas Construction Coordinator, Burt Williams has the responsibility of coordinating all new gas development installations, capital improvement projects and the damage prevention / locate section for the City of Mesa’s Gas Division.  Burt is an active participant with the local one-call center as Arizona Blue Stake Board Member, Legislative Subcommittee Chair, American Public Gas Association Research Foundation (APGARF) Advisor, and has recently assisted in the DOT/PHMSA Pipeline & Industry R&D Forum as Technical Session Leader for Excavation Damage Prevention.  Burt has been employed by the City of Mesa for 20 years and holds a B.S. in Education from California University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Construction Management from Arizona State University.
Timothy Vaughan Spectra Energy	Timothy Vaughan is Area Manager - South Plainfield, NJ for Spectra Energy, (Texas Eastern Transmission, L.P., Algonquin Gas Transmission, L.L.C.). He has more than 29 years experience in the Natural Gas Industry. His background includes - Gas gathering, mainline transmission, technical support, and customer delivery.
Al Jimison Columbia Gas of Virginia	Al Jimison is a Damage Prevention Specialist with Columbia Gas of Virginia.He has been employed by Columbia for 23 years. His career with Columbia began in the field and has progressed into leadership. Al currently, is a member of Virginia's Underground Damage Prevention Advisory Committee, is a member of the Southside Virginia Community College Heavy Equipment Advisory Board, member of the Pruden Center Advisory Board in Suffolk, VA. and is current Chairman of the Northern Virginia Local Damage Prevention Committee (Area 3) for Fredericksburg.
Massoud Tahamtani State of Virginia	Massoud Tahamtani has worked with the State Corporation Commission since 1980.  In his current position, as Director of the Division of Utility and Railroad Safety, he administers the Commission's Underground Utility Damage Prevention program.  He also manages the Commission's  Railroad Safety and Gas and Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Programs.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute and various technical certificates related to the utility industry.  Mr. Tahamtani is past National Chairman of the National Association of Pipeline Safety Representatives (NAPSR) and a member of the NAPSR Grant Allocation and Legislative Committees.  In 1997, the Secretary of Transportation appointed Mr. Tahamtani to the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee.  He represented the States on the Federal Government's Damage Prevention Quality Action Team and the Linking Team of the "Common Ground, Study of One-Call Systems and Damage Prevention Best Practices" Study.  In 2005, he chaired the “Excavation Damage Prevention” Team established by the Office of Pipeline Safety, the gas industry, and the states, to conduct a study directed by Congress to improve the safety of gas distribution systems in the nation.

 

Learning Objectives

After attending this session the participant will -

Be able to:	Improve locate, mark & excavation program and practices.
Know:	What technologies may be available for improved and more efficient locate & marking programs.
Know where to find out about:	State one call regulations and locate, mark and excavation best practices.

 

Prior Knowlege Recommendations

To get the most from attending this session the participant is recommended to have the following prior knowledge -

CGA locate, mark and excavation best practices	Read
API 1166	Read

Summary

Session #3 started with a panel of 4 practitioners, with pipelines varying in size from long lines transmission to smaller LDCs, discussing locate, mark and excavation practices:

1. Spectra Energy receives approximately 190,000 requests for locating/marking in 23 states and monitors >2,000 excavations per year. They have a very comprehensive and active mechanical damage prevention program. Multiple lines in one location are a significant issue. Transmission, distribution and service lines may all be in one locate request and their locating and marking has to be well coordinated.

2. Columbia Gas Distribution of Va. measures “no-shows” of one call tickets which includes late marking. The purpose is to improve this metric. The Va. “One Call” law provides the marking standard for all in state utilities. Excavators who are repeat offenders are given additional education and training to reduce their damage incidents. Columbia Gas has developed and distributed “hit kits” to their field personnel for when a line is damaged. Columbia Gas has found that getting involved in local damage prevention organizations is necessary and effective in reducing hits to their system.

3. The City of Mesa Az. has specified forms for detailing a location for boring and bore monitoring. They have fully digitized their maps which then are available on computers that may be in the field in cars or trucks for in field verification, modification etc.

4. TECO Peoples Gas of Tampa Fl. receives 10,000 locate calls per day and has 60 dedicated locaters. 48% of their mechanical damages occur due to a lack of a one call. They have developed an online course in damage prevention for excavators. They have recently hired a full time employee that bills contractors for the damages they have incurred and collects the funds. Having one such individual makes the process consistent. No one else mentioned that they bill excavators for damages incurred. They have significantly reduced hits/1000 tickets and are very pleased with the states one call center.

Massoud Tahamtani, Division Director of Utility Safety described Virginias’ one call law and system. It has been recognized nationally as a model system/process and some of the PIPES provisions come from the Va. experience. Va. has only one exemption to the One Call requirement and that department (DOT) has paperwork to submit that equates to a one call. The Safety Division has 3 full time trainers for >3,500 contractors. A board including all constituents determines fines etc. for not following the rules. All funds collected go back into educational activities for contractors. Va. has an extensive metrics effort. Recent analysis of that data indicates that even hand digging is causing pipe damage and they are responding with educational materials. Ground Penetrating Radar is being tried to find unmarked laterals. Va. is conducting an R&D effort to improve mapping accuracies and simplify the mapping part of the One Call process in concert with PHMSA, and PRCI. One objective is to reduce the number of unnecessary calls/locate requests. Electronic white lining will be demonstrated. More accurate GPS, cell phones and other mobile systems are being investigated to simplify and improve the locating and marking efforts. (See PHMSA R&D website for details.)

Several notable issues arose:

1. Care must be used in benchmarking or comparing metrics. For example, hits/1000 locates is not equal to hits/1000 calls. Not all calls require locates.

2. There is no uniform definition of a “hit” pipe. Some require the actual pipe to be damaged, others as long as the insulation is affected, it qualifies as a hit. The industry will have difficulty in getting good results and analyses of data if definitions are not clear and uniform. DIRT should resolve such issues.

3. The locating of cathodic protection electric lines such as anode test wires, ground bed wires and rectifier lines is not uniformly requested or required of locaters.

4. Hours of operation of One Call Centers are not uniform. Some go 24/7, others do not.

Successful damage prevention programs require attention to detail and an effective outreach program. Pipeline personnel must be involved in their One Call centers, local damage prevention boards etc.