Damage Prevention & Safety
Seattle Firefighter Sues After Injuries from Pipeline Explosion
SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle firefighter is suing Puget Sound Energy and one of its contractors, saying he has lingering injuries after being knocked out by a natural-gas explosion that leveled two buildings last year. The Seattle Times reports (https://goo.gl/IAvBLJ ) that 50-year-old Jeff Markoff fil..
Report: Pipeline Incidents Drop 10% in 2016-17 Period
API, along with the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL), released the pipeline industry’s 2017-2019 Pipeline Safety Excellence Strategic Plan and 2016 Performance Report summarizing the industry’s track record on pipeline safety and highlighting the steps pipeline operators are taking to advance sa..
Washington Governor Signs Safe Digging Bill
OLYMPIA, Wash (AP) – Governor Inslee signed a bill designed to save lives, or at least prevent headaches. We’ve all seen the signs: Call before you dig. The worst case scenario for ignoring the warning is tragic: An exploding gas line or thousands of volts of electricity shooting up through a shov..
Pipefitter Killed By Falling Tree Branch
WASHINGTON (AP) — A maintenance worker at the U.S. Capitol has died after a large tree branch fell on top of him. A statement from the Architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers, identified the man who was killed as Matthew McClanahan. The statement says McClanahan was working on an irrigation pipe on..
Fort Worth, Atmos Team-Up For Crossbore Prevention
The city of Fort Worth, TX, and Atmos Energy, the area’s gas service provider, are taking a proactive approach to address possible crossbores in the city’s sanitary sewer pipes. Crossbores – an intersection of two or more underground utilities – is an ongoing concern of municipalities across the co..
Digging Safely Starts With A Call To 811
Whether you are a professional excavator, contractor, engineer or utility owner, you play an important role in keeping people safe with every dig. Laws governing excavation vary by state, and they can be confusing. Answering the question, “Do I have to call 811?” can be difficult if you don’t unders..
EM, GPR: Complementary Damage Prevention Technologies
by Daniel Bigman, Ph.D. Damage prevention plays a vital role in underground construction. Identifying existing buried services prior to installing new ones is critical to maintaining site safety and limiting project costs. There are various technologies that assist in detecting and marking buried f..
Fire, Explosion Send Manhole Covers Flying in Boston
BOSTON (AP) — Boston officials believe an underground cable failure was the cause of a fire and explosion that sent two manhole covers flying through the air. No injuries were reported. Authorities responded to a fire Sunday morning near the city hall complex. After they arrived, officials said the..
Illinois American Water Employees Honored
Two Illinois American Water employees were recognized for their construction and safety efforts at the 30th Annual Peoria Area Labor Management Council and Tri-County Construction Labor Management Council award banquet on March 28, 2017. Roger Goodson, Illinois American Water’s senior manager of fi..
New Website Offers Free Safe-Digging Tickets
In honor of National Safe Digging Month this April, PG&E encourages everyone planning excavation projects big and small to get a free safe-digging ticket using a new and convenient tool, 811express.com. Customers, excavators and contractors are urged to take just one minute and use the online servic..
Kansas Governor Proclaims April as Safe Digging Month
Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has proclaimed April as “Safe Digging Month.” The proclamation, in concurrence with National Safe Digging Month, reminds Kansans to call 811 before starting any outdoor that requires digging—including landscaping and home improvement projects. Calling 811 is a no-cost, ..
America to Celebrate 2nd Annual National Gas Utility Workers' Day on March 18
America will celebrate its 2nd annual National Gas Utility Workers’ Day on March 18, 2017. This day of recognition is a time when communities give recognition to the employees who provide one of their most valuable assets—their natural gas utility. Gas Utility Workers’ Day occurs on March 18 becaus..
SoCalGas Joins Gold Shovel Standard
Southern California Gas Co. today announced its membership in the Gold Shovel Standard, a first-of-its-kind safety program designed to increase the bar for excavation safety performance and reduce the more than 2,000 dig-ins that occur each year throughout the company’s 20,000-square-mile service ar..
Errant Excavator Blamed for Iowa Pipeline Leak
HANLONTOWN, Iowa (AP) — An Oklahoma-based company has blamed an errant excavator for damaging a pipeline in northern Iowa that spilled nearly 47,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Magellan Midstream Partners released a statement Tuesday saying the excavator apparently didn’t check with regulators about th..
Technology Gives Utilities and Pipeline Operators Cost-Effective Way to Improve Safety
AyaWorks, a provider of effective pipeline safety and compliance management solutions for oil, gas and utility companies, has announced that their systems are approved and can be implemented immediately, in accordance with recent pipeline safety regulation amendments. The company offers utility com..
Many Positives From Common Ground Alliance DIRT Report
The latest Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) report released in October 2016 by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) contained the good news that efforts to reduce accidental damage to the nation’s underground utility infrastructure and build awareness of the free 811 service are making significa..
Worker Killed in Sewer Trench Collapse
WEST NEWTON, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a trench collapse at a western Pennsylvania property has killed a man working at the site. The Westmoreland County coroner’s office said 18-year-old Adam Skokut Jr. was installing a sewer pipe at about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the property in South Huntingdon T..
Judge: PG&E Must Run Ads Publicizing Pipeline Safety Convictions
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced California’s largest utility to pay a $3 million fine and run television commercials publicizing its pipeline safety convictions as punishment in a criminal case stemming from a deadly natural-gas explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area. U...
Judge Delays Sentencing PG&E for Natural Gas Explosion
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge says he is inclined to require Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to mention its convictions in ads and have employees do thousands of hours of community service as part of its sentence in a criminal case stemming from a deadly natural gas explosion in the San Francisco ..
PG&E Found Guilty of Violating Pipeline Safety Regulations
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. says it is prepared to pay the maximum fine of $3 million after a jury convicted the company of deliberately violating pipeline safety regulations before a deadly natural gas pipeline explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area. But California’s largest u..
Poisonous Manhole Fumes Claim Lives of 3 Utility Workers
KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Three underground utility workers have died while investigating a sewage backup. According to Monroe County spokeswoman Cammy Clark, one of the men working for the county’s contractor, Douglas N. Higgins, went down a drainage manhole Monday morning to investigate why a newly ..
Contractor Perspectives On Gold Shovel Standard
by Eben M. Wyman Gas distribution construction work is booming as local distribution companies (LDCs) continue to aggressively replace old cast iron and unprotected steel piping with superior polyethylene pipe. Transmission pipeline operators continue to build the necessary infrastructure to move t..
Years After Law, Kansas Underground Utility Notification System Starts
TOPEKA (AP) — It’s been more than a decade since lawmakers passed a law requiring the formation of an entity to lead underground utility notifications and safe digging in Kansas, and it will be another two years before that group is expected to be operational. The Kansas Corporation Commissio..
PHMSA Appoints 24 Members to Pipeline Safety Working Group
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) today appointed 24 members to the pipeline safety Voluntary Information-Sharing System (VIS) Working Group. The newly created advisory committee that will provide the Secretary of Tran..
Efficiency Production Adds New International Dealer In Singapore
Efficiency Production, a leading manufacturer of trench shielding and shoring equipment, has added Singapore-based United Shoring Specialists to its international dealer network. “The construction industry in Southeast Asia is one of outdated excavation safety equipment,” said Raul Felman, Efficien..
Firefighters Rescue Worker from Kansas City Trench Collapse
KANSAS CITY (AP) — A federal agency is investigating after firefighters had to rescue a man trapped in a mud trench at a Kansas City work site. OSHA says an employee of Hydro Tech Plumbing was injured after the trench he was working in collapsed. The worker was repairing underground sewer lines in ..
OSHA Issues Best Practices to Promote Workplace Safety and Health Programs in Construction
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs in Construction to help industry employers develop proactive programs to keep their workplaces safe. The recommendations may be particularly helpful to small- and medium-sized contractor..
OSHA Cites Company for Safety Violations in Worker's Death
OSHA has cited an Ohio company after a 33-year-old employee was crushed to death in June 2016 as he was digging soil out of a 12-foot trench when the trench walls around him collapsed. He is one of 23 workers killed, and 12 others who reported injuries in trench collapses in 2016. Trench collapses ..
OSHA to Hold Pipeline Safety Meeting
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has scheduled a meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health’s OSH Professionals Pipeline Work Group. The meeting will be Nov. 15 in Washington, D.C. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr...
Initiative Boosts Excavation Safety Program To Combine Certification, Performance Monitoring
by Jeff Griffin Senior Editor A new initiative to prevent damage to buried underground utility infrastructure is gaining acceptance and momentum, believes Rick Galyean, administrator of the Gold Shovel Standard program. Galyean describes the Gold Shovel Standard as a first-of-its-kind safety pr..
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