Excavation damage continues to be a leading cause of hazardous liquid and natural gas pipeline incidents resulting in death and serious injury.
PRACTICE DAMAGE PROTECTION PROTECT WALLET The U. S. DOT’ s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration( PHMSA) has established criteria for adequate state enforcement of their damage prevention( one-call) laws and also a Federal Standard for Excavators. Here’ s what you need to know:
1. PHMSA evaluated each state against the enforcement criteria to determine program adequacy. Florida’ s program was evaluated in December and a decision is pending.
2. PHMSA will take federal enforcement action against excavators in states with inadequate enforcement when a pipeline regulated by PHMSA or the state is unlawfully damaged. Daily fines max out at $ 200,000 and $ 2 million.
3. Damage prevention is your best defense.
a. LEARN and FOLLOW Sunshine 811’ s High Priority Subsurface Installation( HPSI) procedures for working near HPSIs.
b. ALWAYS CONTACT the pipeline operator with the excavation start date and time when you get positive response code 2C-Marked with Exceptions. That means your excavation site is within 15 feet of an HPSI pipeline.
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JANUARY 2017 • DITCHMEN 7