2. Why you’re here…
Regulation
Education
Safety
Quality
Assurance
It is the operator's responsibility to ensure that every individual,
whether employed by the operator or by a contractor who
performs a covered task on an operator's pipeline facility on or
after the compliance date (October 28, 2002), must either be
qualified to perform those tasks or be directed and observed by a
qualified person. Source: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/oq/faqs.htm
Health and Safety Vision
A healthy and injury-free workplace, sustained by
behaviors that consistently demonstrate our
commitment to the welfare of each other, our
contractors and the communities we serve.
Safety Excellence Model
The Safety Excellence Model defines the components that are required
to achieve a zero-injury, zero-illness culture. These are health and safety
leadership, health and safety processes, business processes and
employee and contractor engagement. Our vision will only be achieved
when these components are successful.
https://www.duke-energy.com/pdfs/2015-Health-and-Safety-Handbook.pdf
4. Affected Jobs
Who this applies to:
All Duke Energy employees or agents
performing work or operations around
gas pipeline and facilities.
Do contractor employees have to be in compliance the same as
employees of operators?
Q&A Time:
5. Characteristics of Natural Gas
Natural gas has no odor.
Natural gas is a colorless, tasteless, odorless, and non-toxic gas. It is
about 40% lighter than air, so should it ever leak, it can dissipate into
the air.
Odorized so that less than 1% gas in air is readily
detectible by a person with a typical sense of smell.
Because it is odorless, a powerful chemical called mercaptan is added to
the gas, in very small amounts, to give the gas a distinctive smell of
rotten eggs.
Tertiary Butyl Mercaptan or “Mercaptan”
Mercaptan is harmless chemical that rises and dissipates much like
natural, making the two substances ideal companions.
1 drop odorizes 1000 cf (cubic feet)
6. Safety topics we will cover
Why we odorize natural gas
In its natural state, natural gas is scentless, colorless and tasteless, but
in order to warn of its presence in case of leaks, an aroma compound
(mercaptans) is added, giving it its characteristic smell of rotten eggs.
Affects of breathing natural gas
Exposure to low levels of natural gas is not harmful to your health.
If a natural gas leak has occurred and is severe, oxygen can be
reduced, causing dizziness, fatigue, nausea, headache, and irregular
breathing.
Exposure to extremely high levels of natural gas can cause loss of
consciousness or even death.
Do NOT rely on your sense of smell alone to detect the presence of natural gas.
7. Why?
Some persons may not be able to detect the odorant because of a diminished sense
of smell or because the odorant smell is being masked by other odors.
There may be rare conditions, such as odor fade (loss of odorant), which may occur
and may cause the odor to diminish so that it is not detectable.
Odor fade (loss of odorant) can occur when physical and/or chemical processes
cause the level of odorant in the gas to be reduced. These processes include, but are
not limited to, adsorption, absorption and oxidation. This can occur more frequently
in installations of new gas pipe than in existing pipe.
If a natural gas leak occurs underground, the surrounding soil may cause odor fade.
Other factors that may cause odor fade include, but are not limited to the
construction and configuration of the customer’s gas facilities; the presence of rust,
moisture, liquids or other substances in the pipe; and gas composition, pressure
and/or flow
. Intermittent, little or no gas flow over an extended period of time may also result
in the loss of odorant until gas flow increases or becomes more frequent.
8. Affects of breathing natural gas
Earths atmosphere contains:
78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% Argon & other gases
Oxygen levels:
21.5 - 19.5% - Attention diminishes, judgment & decision
making impaired, muscular coordination lessened, breathing
rate increases (19.5% OSHA limit)
19.5 – 12% - Shortness of breath, headache, dizziness,
pulse rate increases, quickly fatigued, muscle coordination
is gone
12 – 10% - Exertion is impossible, become less mobile,
partial paralysis, nausea, vomiting
10 – 6% - Collapse & unconsciousness occurs
<6% - Death in 6 – 8 minutes
E
X
P
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O
S
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V
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15 %
4 %
