COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON 9/25/2015, AT 23:00, THE GASKET AT THE FOUR-INCH VENT PIPE FLANGE FAILED ON THE LINE 02 PROVER AT HOUSTON STATION. THE RELEASE WAS DISCOVERED BY AN EMPLOYEE AT 23:31 AND THE LINE WAS IMMEDIATELY SHUTDOWN AND THE STATION AND PROVER ISOLATED. A TECHNICIAN RESPONDED AT APPROXIMATELY 00:15 ON 9/26/2015 AND COMPLETED FURTHER ISOLATION (LOCKOUT/TAGOUT) AND DRAINING OF THE PROVER. THE LINE WAS RESTARTED ON 9/26/15 AT 01:38. ON 9/26/15 AT 09:20 THE TEXAS STATE EMERGENCY RESPONSE CENTER WAS NOTIFIED AND THEY IN TURN NOTIFIED TCEQ. THE NRC WAS NOTIFIED ON MONDAY 9/28/2015 AT 15:11 WHEN IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE COST OF CLEANUP AND RECOVERY WERE LIKELY GOING TO EXCEED $50,000. THE FAILED GASKET WAS INSTALLED BY A QUALIFIED COLONIAL TECHNICIAN IN JANUARY 2015 FOLLOWING A WATER DRAW OF THE PROVER. INCIDENT ANALYSIS OF THE EVENT DETERMINED THAT THE BASIC CAUSES OF THE GASKET FAILURE WERE: 1.) FAILURE TO FOLLOW COLONIAL'S CM-111 BOLTED CONNECTIONS PROCEDURE WHEN THE GASKET WAS REPLACED IN JANUARY 2015. 2.) FAILURE TO FOLLOW COLONIAL'S MATERIAL & EQUIPMENT SPECIFICATION MS-07-06 FOR PROPER MARKING OF GASKETS WITH DATE OF MANUFACTURE AND RECEIPT WHEN THE GASKET WAS RECEIVED AT THE WAREHOUSE. FOLLOWING THE DETERMINATION THAT THE TECHNICIAN'S ACTIONS WERE A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO THE ACCIDENT, THE TECHNICIAN'S OQ QUALIFICATION TO PERFORM FLANGE BOLTING PROCEDURES WAS DISQUALIFIED IN ACCORDANCE WITH COLONIAL'S OPERATOR QUALIFICATION PROGRAM MANUAL. AS A REMEDIAL ACTION, THE TECHNICIAN WAS REQUIRED TO RE-QUALIFY USING THE PERFORMANCE VERIFICATION METHOD. TWO CORRECTIVE ACTIONS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS OF TRACKING GASKET SHELF LIFE.