Pipeline incidents are deadly reminders to make the One-Call

Last week was a deadly one for workers near pipelines in Texas. In two separate incidents, three men were killed and 11 injured when workers digging in the ground struck natural gas pipelines.

Cleburne pipeline explosion, photo courtesy Dallas Morning News

We are fortunate to have a system in place--One Call--to make sure these kinds of incidents don't happen. And investigations are underway to determine whether workers involved in the two Texas explosions called 811 and how the utilities and pipeline operators may have responded.

But, given the deaths of these three workers and the injuries to their co-workers, I want to remind workers whose jobs require them to dig underground to call 811 before you dig.

It's not only the law; it saves lives.

Whether you're drilling into the ground to install utility poles, as the workers in Cleburne were doing on June 7, or digging for caliche with a bulldozer, as the workers in Darrouzett were doing the very next day, excavation can be dangerous.

And the damage from excavation poses a serious threat, not only to the workers involved, but to everyone in the area.

America has a vital transportation system that remains virtually invisible to most of us: the network of 2.3 million miles of pipelines criss-crossing this nation just beneath the surface. Those pipelines carry a tremendous load and perform a very important service.

However, as vital as those pipelines are, they are still vulnerable to digging and drilling.

Dialing 811, our national “Call Before You Dig” number, connects excavators anywhere in the country to One-Call centers to alert utility owners and pipeline operators of planned digging activities.

This kind of pipeline damage is 100% preventable

We've done a good job of reducing the number of digging-related pipeline incidents. But, between 2000 and 2009, excavation damage was still the leading cause of all significant pipeline incidents.  These incidents resulted in 38 fatalities, 158 injuries, and $196 million in property damage.

Now, in a single week, we have three more fatalities and 11 more injuries.

My deepest sympathies go out to the families, friends, and colleagues of those men killed. And I wish the injured workers the speediest of recoveries.

Through our Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, this DOT will continue to push for the widespread use of 811 and appropriate responses to 811 calls to protect pipelines and the workers who dig near them.

So, please, whether you're digging on the job or around your yard, call 811 before you dig. These dangerous incidents are 100% preventable, but that prevention starts with you making the One-Call.

Comments

[C GOTT]

I think our time might be better spent reminding or penalizing utility owners for not marking their lines when asked. I grew up and have worked in the underground utility installation industry for years. I don't know an excavator who does not call before they dig every single time even when they know the area is probably clear. The great problem we all face in the industry is what probably happened to the first crew in Texas. The utility companies under fund or do not do an accurate job of marking their lines. We never trust them. We have had a gas company come out and take pictures of marks on an excavated site after the hit so they could prove at a hearing that they did mark it correctly when they did not mark the line at all. Others have had incorrect maps of their lines due to poor recordkeeping. We have seen locators (employees of the utility owner)refuse to get out of their car because the location given was too large and not specific enough. (we install large complexes so need large areas located)

[Michael E. Bailey]

I have had an experience similar to the previous writer who talked about poor record keeping by the utilities. The problem I came across was not an underground one but it was under a bridge deck of a major road bridge crossing Oso Creek in Orange County. Under this bridge, a number of utilities have strapped a number of pipelines some very large and others thin and bundled together. One of the thin conduit lines got a large hole in it and was leaking water down into Oso Creek. I reported this to the City Public Works Department and they started an investigation to find out who owned the conduit line so they could get it repaired. The first problem was that no utility company wanted to claim it and it took 3 or 4 months to track down the owner with the pipe leaking into the Creek the whole time. One utility company's maintenance supervisor asked me to tell him where the leak was located because the maps that utility was still using were so old they didn't show any of the new development or roads or bridges built in the past 5 to 10 years. He went and looked and said the broken pipe was not his company's. It was finally traced back to one of the major telephone companies as the owner. But this company said the line belonged to another company they bought out and since they didn't put the pipe in, they didn't have any responsibility over it. For a year, the phone company poured sand into the line and the leaking would stop for as much as a week at a time. But they never repaired the whole in the line and so when the sand got saturated water would start leaking out the whole again into the Creek a trickle at first then a study stream until mohre sand was put in the line. It cycled like this a year and stopped only when the water district put water use controls in place to deal with the drought we are having. What has finally ended this problem is the State Water Quality Control Board has issued new regulations that puts strict controls on storm water runoff and makes virtually illegal dry water runoff with only a very few exceptions like water used to fight fires. I am glad we have the ONE-CALL system and it works. But we need to make sure the utilities do their part as well as the excavating contracters do their part. The investigations into these 2 pipeline accidents should reveal where there are shortcomings in the system as well as what contractors and/or utilities did or did not do that made these accidents possible. More regulation may prove to be necessary but the result will be more lives saved. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[ranadiya]

I think every person should know this ---read this --and follow this message - "Smart digging means calling 811 before each job. Whether you are a homeowner or a professional excavator, one call to 811 gets your underground utility lines marked for FREE. "--It is not only Protect your but those around you to them also.

[Jake Lopez]

The prevention also starts with big Oil companies like BP.
All of the other executives on the congressional drilling said that the spill was "preventable"

President Obama will say about the Texas pipeline accident "this is the fault of BP"......the utility truck was powered by gas/diesel supplied by BP...

My fellow Americans...British Petroleum WILL be made to pay ahuge fine for this....people will be arrested....and a bill for billions of dollars..
will be presented to BP for the enviromental disaster that unfolded in Texas...We may even sieze the assets of British Petroleum...and allow a good
and caring Shell Oil Company (or some other) to buy the assets at a rock bottom price.....Do Big Oil Americans ever wonder why the rest of the world despises them?

[Mike Holmstrom]

There's other issues with marking utilities that come up. Sometimes, the depth of a pipeline is less than the normal required 3 feet of soil coverage.

Maps are too often inaccurate for use in digging around them. Workers have been killed or maimed by relying on just a map, without using an actual pipeline locator. Some utility locators also need better training. 5 men were killed at Walnut Creek, CA, because a Pipeline marking worker didn't know how to read their blueprints.

[Gary L Parker]

I work in the oil and gas industry, have for many many years. Worked for contractors and oil companines, a vast majority of these incidents are caused by what is called in the industry as third party encroachments. meaning the lines are marked as close as possible. if you are digging even in your own yard, it is your life,,, but if i were you i would make that toll free call. The incident in the texas panhandle, while tragic, was preventable. The contractor did not do a one call at the site and the line had been there for years...

[phillip]

811 is a great service and anyone who is planning on digging for any reason should call prior to starting.

[tyler]

It is indeed the law, and beyond that it is just the wise thing to do to call prior to any digging.