By Pepper Parr
November 3, 2016
BURLINGTON, ON
Gas leaks are dangerous.
Yesterday there was a gas leak on a construction site.
The fire department and the gas company were able to get on site very quickly and shut the gas off.
A resident who was walking in the area wants to know why things like this happen.
When construction permits are issued do the contractors not know where the telephone lines are; where the gas lines are and where the water pipes are?
The project has been a long time getting to te point where the shovels were in the ground. within a week something struck a gas pipe line shutting down the immediate area for several hours. Fast work on the part of the fire department and the gas company averted a disaster.
Our resident wants to know: What is the procedure at The City of Burlington going forward with the developer who put Downtown Core residents and businesses in jeopardy yesterday when a gas pipe was ruptured during construction at Caroline and Elizabeth Streets?
She was walking by the site when the gas pipe was hit and the concentration of gas permeating the air was dense and made it difficult to breath. She didn’t know how gas pipes and pressure work when there is a rupture, but there was gas filling businesses on Brant Street. Wardell Insurance had all of their doors open as their building filled with gas; this building is directly across from City Hall. I observed firemen taking gas readings as far south as James Street.
How is it possible that a builder can still rupture a gas line in the middle of a City with all of the technology available in 2016 for pinpointing exact location? This site is bordered by an apartment building, town homes and businesses in a highly populated and travelled part of our downtown community.
Medica One or the Carriage Gate project – pick the name you like best – will go up at the top of John Street and consist of a medical offices building, an above ground garage and an apartment/condo complex. It will bring significant change to the intersection and drive redevelopment of the plaza to the immediate north, A transit hub a couple of blocks to the south then makes a lot of sense.
Is this developer capable of safely building a safe building in our midst? What are this developer’s credentials? Has this developer ever worked on a project of this scale? This is a disturbing start in the early stages of a multi-year construction at this site.
Does the developer pay the thousands of dollars for the emergency response personnel that were on site for the many hours that it took to secure the area and stop the gas leak? Is there any consideration for the businesses that either had to be evacuated or suffered loss of business?
It is absolutely terrifying to consider the consequences to our downtown community had the gas ignited.
All good questions. Watching for the answers.
All excavators are required to obtain and have on site valid locates as well as follow safe excavation guidelines as set out by the TSSA. I can’t speak for the Gas Utility, but they will likely be charging for all their time to repair the damaged pipe. In addition, the TSSA may do an investigation and issue a charge as well. I agree with Greg, either the locator or the Contractor made an error that resulted in the damage.
I have to agree with Greg’s point about the locates. When we did some landscaping and foundation work a few years ago we had all the appropriate company’s come and do locates. A phone line still got cut as the locate was not accurate. While not having my internet till the line was fixed was very inconvenient at least there was no danger. A gas line (which I don’t have) is much more serious. Exactly what happened needs to be thoroughly investigated and steps taken to insure this doesn’t happen again.
Back in the old days, orange and/or blue lines were spray painted right on the sidewalk and grass allowing the diggers to know where to exercise caution. Maybe they use an app and GPS now?
These are some good questions. While you’re talking about the developer, it’s actually the contractor’s fault. Most likely the developer was not doing work with their own forces. This does not excuse the developer from all responsibility, but it is not their job to know where the gas lines are. In fact, it’s not really the cities either particularly if it’s on private property.
My understanding is that the contractor doing the excavation is responsible for obtaining locates before digging. They do this through Ontario OneCall most likely in this case. They would contact the utilities or their representatives to come out and ‘locate’, mark on the ground and provide a drawing, each utility. I would absolutely surprised if this didn’t take place.
One of two things likely went wrong here, the locate showed the gas line and the contractor made a mistake. The other, which is very possible, is that the locate was incorrect. It may seem hard to believe but most utilities do not know exactly where their lines/pipes are in the ground. The locator may have gotten it wrong on their visit, or the gas line could have been in the wrong spot/unknown.
I walked by the project last week and if I recall the excavation contractor correctly they are a professional organisation with a great reputation who I would consider to be at the top of their field. I would like to know what happened as well as it is a public safety risk, but I don’t think the developer or City get bad marks for this one.