Pipeline Accident Report - The Pipelines of Puerto Rico, Inc., Petroleum Products Pipeline Rupture and Fire, Bayamon, Puerto Rico, January 30, 1980

摘要

At 9:50 a.m., on January 30, 1980, an 8-inch-diameter, refined petroleum products pipeline owned by the Pipelines of Puerto Rico, Inc., and operated by the Shell Oil Company (Puerto Rico) Ltd. was struck and ruptured by a bulldozer during maintenance work on a nearby waterline in the Sector Cana of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, about 10 miles southwest of San Juan. Gasoline from the rupture sprayed downhill and ran off into a small creek. About 1 1/2 hours later, the gasoline vapors were ignited by an undetermined source and exploded; the subsequent fire killed one person and extensively damaged 25 houses and other property. The National Tranportation Safety Board determins that the probable cause of the accident was the rupture of the pipeline by a bulldozer, whose operator was unaware of the pipeline's precise depth and location, and the failure of the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and the Highway Authority personnel at the accident site to ascertain the exact location of the pipeline and to take proper precautions. Contributing factors in the accident were the lack of visible aboveground temporary markers to show the exact location where the pipeline crossed under the waterline, and the use of heavy construction equipment near the pipeline while the pipeline company inspector was absent.