Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities
Pipeline Safety Division
TELEPHONIC INCIDENT NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR OPERATORS
Effective November 19, 2019
I. INTRODUCTION
These procedures explain when and how operators are to notify government agencies of certain events. In particular, operators are required to notify the Department of Public Utilities (“DPU”) by telephone (i.e., Telephonic Incident Notification (“TIN”)) of certain specific events, as noted below. For any questions, updates to previously reported events, or to inform the DPU of situations that do not fall within the reporting requirements, an operator may contact the DPU by email at:
DPU.PipelineReports@mass.gov
II. WHAT TO REPORT TO THE DPU
A. The DPU shall be notified by telephone for any of the following events.
1. Excavation damage to an operator’s pipeline that results in the release of natural gas.
2. Evacuation of a building because of the presence of natural gas in the building released from an operator’s distribution system, where the evacuation has been initiated by: (a) the fire department; (b) the police department; or (c) the operator’s onsite personnel.
3. A natural gas supply interruption resulting in 50 customer-hours or more (Note: master meter = one customer).
4. An incident reported to the National Response Center as required by 49 C.F.R. Part 191.
5. The over-pressurization of an operator’s distribution system that exceeds the established Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure or an under-pressurization resulting in the unsafe operation of customers’ appliances and meets the requirements of situation number 3 above.
6. The release of natural gas from an operator’s distribution system that results in an ignition or explosion.
7. The unplanned release of natural gas or liquid from a Liquefied Natural Gas (“LNG”) facility resulting in: (a) a person’s death or hospitalization overnight; (b) emergency shut down; (c) LNG spill of five or more barrels; (d) ignition of gas or liquid; or (e) property damage of $50,000 or more.
8. The unplanned release of propane gas or liquid from a Liquified Propane Gas (“LPG”) facility resulting in: (a) a person’s death or hospitalization overnight; (b) emergency shut down; (c) LPG spill of five or more barrels; (d) ignition of vapor or liquid; or (e) property damage of $50,000 or more.
9. An actual or attempted breach of security at: (a) LNG plant; (b) propane-air plant; (c) gate station; (d) district regulator station; or (e) an operator’s operations facility.
10. Media coverage of any event listed above.
B. The DPU should not be notified by telephone for the following situations:
1. Reports of carbon monoxide poisoning;
2. Leaks on customer-owned piping;
3. Customer-owned appliance malfunctions;
4. False alarms;
5. Fire department shutoff requests or assists; or
6. Other calls not meeting the requirements of Section II.A, above.
Nevertheless, an operator may, as a courtesy, inform the DPU of these situations by email to the following address:
DPU.PipelineReports@mass.gov
III. TELEPHONIC REPORTS TO THE DPU
Telephonic notification of the items listed in Section I.A, above, must be made promptly but no more than two hours following discovery and determination of the reportable event. Operators should at a minimum be prepared to provide the information requested on the TIN form. If all some of the information regarding the incident is not available at the time of the initial telephone report, Operators should provide follow-up information by email to the DPU email address above. The updates should be made within two hours of the original call. If there are substantial changes to or an escalation of the initially reported event, Operators should report those by telephone.
A. To report an incident to the DPU during its normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:45 AM to 5:00 PM), please call:
(617) 305-3537
If no one answers, leave a brief message with the following information:
B. To report an incident during non-business hours (5:00 PM to 8:45 AM, weekends, and holidays), please call the DPU’s standby engineer at:
(617) 305-3845
If no one answers, leave a brief message with the information noted above:
C. If you leave a message at either of the numbers above and receive no response after one hour, please call the Director of the Pipeline Safety Division at:
(857) 214-1522
If no one answers, leave a brief message with the information noted above.
IV. FOLLOW-UP WRITTEN REPORTS TO THE DPU
For all incidents required to be reported to the DPU under Section I, above, an Operator shall submit a written report within ten business days after discovery of the incident using the attached Operator TIN Follow-Up Report Form. This form shall be sent to:
Director
Pipeline Engineering and Safety Division
Department of Public Utilities
One South Station, 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02110
Operators may also submit their own written incident notice as an addendum to this form. If the information is incomplete after ten business days, then a supplemental report will be required until the cause of the incident has been determined and corrective actions have been implemented to minimize a reoccurrence of the incident. Any supplemental report should reference the original TIN by date, operator’s name, and incident location.
V. REPORTS TO THE NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER
A. Under 49 C.F.R. Part 191, § 191.5, at the earliest practicable moment following discovery of an “Incident” as defined by 49 C.F.R. Part 191, § 191.3 (see below), each operator is required to give notice to the National Response Center by calling:
1-800-424-8802
The operator may also provide notice electronically at http://nrc.uscg.mil/. The notice must include the following information:
1. Names of operator and person making report and their telephone numbers;
2. The location of the incident;
3. The time of the incident;
4. The number of fatalities and personal injuries, if any;
5. All other significant facts that are known by the operator that are relevant to the cause of the incident or extent of the damages.
B. As defined by 49 C.F.R. Part 191, § 191.3, “Incident” means any of the following events:
1. An event that involves a release of gas from a pipeline, gas from an underground natural gas storage facility, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, refrigerant gas, or gas from an LNG facility, and that results in one or more of the following consequences:
(a) A death, or personal injury necessitating in-patient hospitalization;
(b) Estimated property damage of $50,000 or more, including loss to the operator and others, or both, but excluding cost of gas lost;
(c) Unintentional estimated gas loss of three million cubic feet or more;
2. An event that results in an emergency shutdown of an LNG facility or an underground natural gas storage facility. Activation of an emergency shutdown system for reasons other than an actual emergency does not constitute an incident.
3. An event that is significant in the judgment of the operator, even though it did not meet the criteria of paragraphs (1) or (2) of this definition.
C. Operators shall follow notice of a distribution system incident, a transmission system incident, or an LNG plant incident with an electronic report to the U.S. DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration at: http://portal.phmsa.dot.gov/pipeline
The electronic report shall be made as soon as practicable but not more than 30 days after detection of the incident. The electronic reporting forms and instructions may be obtained at: http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/pipeline/library/forms.
Distribution system incident reports should be submitted on
DOT Form PHMSA F 7100.1
Transmission system incidents should be reported on
DOT Form PHMSA F 7100.2
LNG plant incidents should be reported on
DOT Form PHMSA F 7100.3
When additional relevant information is obtained after the original report is submitted, the operator shall make supplementary reports. For more information, see 49 C.F.R. Part 191, §§ 191.7-191.15.
Operators must provide the Director of the Pipeline Engineering and Safety Division with a copy of any electronic report or supplementary report submitted pursuant to 49 C.F.R. Part 191.
VI. REPORTS TO THE MASSACHUSETTS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (MEMA)
A. Prolonged evacuations and larger incidents are to be reported to MEMA at:
(508) 820-2000
B. The following are to be considered incidents reportable to MEMA
1. An event that involves a release of gas from a pipeline, gas from an underground natural gas storage facility,liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, refrigerant gas, or gas from an LNG facility,and that results in one or more of the following consequences:
(a) A death, or personal injury necessitating in-patient hospitalization;
(b) Estimated property damage of $50,000 or more, including loss to the operator and others, or both, but excluding cost of gas lost; or
(c) Unintentional estimated gas loss of three million cubic feet or more.
2. An event that results in an emergency shutdown of an LNG facility or an underground natural gas storage facility. Activation of an emergency shutdown system for reasons other than an actual emergency does not constitute an incident.
3. A single event resulting in multiple fires or disturbances.
4. An outage resulting in both of the following:
(a) Evacuation at least 25 customers; and
(b) Service interruption to 25 customers or more expected to last at least 24 hours.
5. An event that is significant in the judgment of the operator, even though it does not meet the criteria of paragraphs (1), (2), (3), or (4) of this definition.