UGI PENN NATURAL GAS

Incident Narrative

~THIS IS A SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT BEING SUBMITTED. THE TIME THE INCIDENT OCCURED IN QUESTION A.4 HAS BEEN UPDATED TO THE TIME AND DATE THE STOPPER FITTING FAILED. ALSO, QUESTION A.6 WAS CHANGED TO ORIGINAL NRC REPORT NUMBER AND NOT THE UPDATED NUMBER RECEIVED WHEN UGI PROVIDED AN UPDATE. ~ BASED ON QUESTIONS RAISED BY PHMSA, A SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT IS BEING FILED. UGI EMPLOYEES WERE PERFORMING A STOPPING OPERATION ON A HIGH PRESSURE GAS MAIN USING AN EXISTING BOTTOM OUT FITTING. THE STOPPING OPERATION WAS BEING PERFORMED TO ABANDON A SECTION OF MAIN THAT WAS REPLACED. A BOTTOM OUT STOPPER FITTING WAS USED TO STOP THE FLOW OF GAS FROM THE BOTTOM OF STOPPER FITTING. AFTER PERFORMING THE STOPPING OPERATION, AND OBSERVING A 30 MINUTE WAIT PERIOD TO ENSURE PROPER STOP OFF, A 3 FOOT SECTION OF THE 10"" MAIN WAS REMOVED. WHILE PREPARING TO WELD ON A 10"" CAP, GAS WAS DETECTED BYPASSING THE STOPPER. AN EMPLOYEE TRIED TO TIGHTEN THE STOPPER, AND THE STOPPER DISLODGED RESULTING IN A RELEASE OF GAS. LATER THE EMPLOYEE COMPLAINED OF SHOULDER PAIN AND WAS TAKEN TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM. HE WAS ADMITTED OVERNIGHT AND THEN RELEASED. AFTER REVIEW, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT UGI PROCEDURES AND THE MANUFACTURER INSTRUCTIONS WERE NOT FOLLOWED. THE STOPPER THAT WAS SELECTED WAS ONLY DESIGNED TO STOP FLOW FROM ABOVE THE STOPPER, AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN USED TO STOP THE FLOW OF GAS COMING FROM BELOW THE STOPPER. UGI IS ISSUING A COMPANYWIDE ADVISORY TO PREVENT REOCCURRENCE OF A SIMILAR INCIDENT.