Page 14 - may-june 2019

TRAINING AND

TELLTALES

By Mike Dreyer

n accident that oc- transfer operation, the junior the plug once propane started
curred in 2007 in West tech unscrewed a safety plug and did not stop escaping from
Virginia shows how from the liquid withdrawal valve the telltale, an uncontrolled re-
Aa seemingly routine on the old tank The plug is lease of propane occurred and
operation can quickly result in designed with a “telltale” that sent a jet of gas upward and
tragedy A senior and a junior allows the release of propane into the eaves of the store Wit-
propane technician arrived at as the plug is removed If there nesses described a large white
the Little General Store outside is a release, that tells the tech a cloud coming from around the
of Ghent to transfer propane dangerous condition could re- tank as well as the smell of pro-
service to a new retailer’s tank sult if the plug is removed com- pane both outside and inside
Part of their work required them pletely and serves as a warning the store
to pump pro- The junior
pane from an tech contact-
existing tank ed the senior
that was lo- tech and 911
cated directly and advised
beside a retail there was a
store (itself a gas leak at
Code viola- the store The
tion) into the senior tech
new retailer’s returned to
tank that was the store and
located 10 was joined
feet away there by the
During their fire captain
work, the se- and two EMTs
nior tech was At no time
called away was the retail
to make a store evacu-
delivery, Aftermath of the explosion in Ghent, WV ated, despite
leaving the junior tech alone to reports of propane inside
complete the transfer The se- the store Similarly, the area
nior tech was CETP trained and that the plug should immedi- surrounding the tank and store
had several years of on-the-job ately be retightened In fact, was not evacuated and se-
experience and training; in con- testing of the valve post-acci- cured
trast, the junior technician had dent showed that the valve was Roughly thirty minutes
no CETP training and had been stuck in the open condition passed between the time of
on the job for only 45 days As a result, when the inexperi- the initial release and the gas
To begin the routine enced tech failed to retighten finding an ignition source. The

14 Alabama Propane Gas Association | May / June 2019