New Connecticut Law Bans Using Flammable Gas To Clean Gas Pipes

An important piece of legislation was recently passed by the Connecticut legislature that prohibits the use of flammable gas to clean an electric facility’s gas pipes. Last year, a power plant blast at the Kleen Energy System facility in Middletown killed six workers and injured 20 others when a natural gas line was being cleaned. This legislation is the first ruling regarding this in the United States.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said the 2010 incident was “entirely preventable” but there was no law or safety mandates in place to prevent this common practice in the industry. Accumulated gas ignited during the cleaning on the new gas piping and caused a massive explosion that led to many lawsuits and the need for more aggressive legislation to protect workers and surrounding areas.

The new legislation, H.B. No. 5802, states that anyone who “…uses flammable gas to clean or blow a power plant’s gas piping or obtains a power plant building certificate and fails to retain the required special inspector or pay the fire marshal training fee” can face a fine up to $100,000 or a prison sentence of two years, or both. A person or business that is constructing a power plant will only be issued a certificate to build if they have a special inspector that partners with the local fire marshal on construction plans and construction inspections and pays a fee in accordance with H.B. 5802 to train local fire marshals on power plant construction concerns. During the construction process, safety issues are addressed and the fire marshal will let the facility know of any concerns that must be resolved before construction can be completed.

When cleaning a gas pipe, dirt, air, welding debris, construction debris and other ignition sources are released that can cause an explosion. Controlling or lessening potential ignition sources near or in the gas lines is critical to protecting workers’ safety. Ignition sources such as live electricity at the site, welding operations, and gas-fueled torch heaters contributed to the tragic Kleen Energy explosion in Middletown, Conn. Purging the lines with inert gasses like nitrogen or air will completely eliminate this explosion risk. Despite the well-known explosion risk, natural gas, one of the most explosive mediums known to man, was used to purge the lines at the Kleen Energy Plant in Middletown on SuperBowl Sunday 2010. The power plant owners were seeking financial bonuses for a rapid start up that influenced their choice of using explosive gas as a purging agent as opposed to an inert substance that would take longer to deliver to the site, thus delaying start up. These financial factors, combined with hundreds of violations of basic safety procedures, led to catastrophic injuries and untimely deaths in Conn., as well as similar explosions in other states.

H.B. 5802 helps to institute new steps to prevent deadly cleaning practices. And hopefully it will also renew a commitment to following safety checklists so that worker safety is upheld.

Alexandra Reed writes for Connecticut personal injury law firm, Stratton Faxon. Contact Stratton Faxon to speak with a Connecticut accident lawyer about your personal injury, wrongful death, or Connecticut malpractice case. To learn more, visit Strattonfaxon.com.