COLONIAL PIPELINE CO

hazardous_liquid Incident —

Incident Information

Report Date
OperatorCOLONIAL PIPELINE CO
Commodity—
Pipeline Typehazardous_liquid

Location

State
Coordinates31.64875, -89.51924

Cause

CauseEQUIPMENT FAILURE
Subcause—

Casualties

Fatalities0
Injuries0

Costs

Property Damage
Lost Commodity
Public/Private Damage
Emergency Response
Environmental Remediation
Other Costs

Location Map

Incident Narrative

ON 6/18/2014 AT 19:55 THE COLLINS TANK FARM OPERATOR WAS ATTEMPTING TO PROVE THE LINE 7 METER, BUT THE PROVING ATTEMPTS FAILED. WHEN THE OPERATOR WENT OUTSIDE TO CHECK ON THE PROVER, HE DISCOVERED PRODUCT LEAKING FROM THE PROVER RAM. IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE AND THE LINE WAS SHUT DOWN. THE PROVER WAS ISOLATED AND DRAINED TO ENSURE NO FURTHER RELEASE OF PRODUCT. THE EVENT DID NOT MEET ANY IMMEDIATE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL, STATE, OR LOCAL AGENCIES; THEREFORE NO EXTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS WERE MADE. INCIDENT ANALYSIS DETERMINED THAT THE RELEASE OCCURRED WHEN THE PROVER RAM OPERATOR LIMIT TRAIN SEIZED, FOLLOWED BY A FAILURE OF THE STEM STOP NUT, WHICH ELIMINATED THE OPERATOR TORQUE OUT STOP FUNCTION, THUS ALLOWING THE TRAVEL TO CONTINUE UNTIL REACHING THE END OF THE STEM THREADS. THE EXTENDED TRAVEL OF THE STEM CAUSED THE STEM THREADS TO ENTER THE PACKING GLAND AREA ALLOWING PRODUCT TO ESCAPE. THE LIMIT TRAIN WAS REPLACED AND A STOP NUT WITH A DIFFERENT THREAD PATTERN THAN THE STEM NUT WAS INSTALLED TO PREVENT THE NUT FROM BACKING OFF.

About This Pipeline Incident

Pipeline incident data is reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). All significant incidents involving fatalities, injuries, or property damage over $50,000 must be reported.

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