Ontario Construction News staff writer
Ottawa-based Glenn Wright Excavating has been fined $90,000 for “causing the discharge of natural gas into the natural environment that may have caused an adverse effect.”
According to a statement from the Ontario government, the incident happened on May 2, 2017 when the excavator was subcontracted through a verbal agreement to conduct construction work including the installation of drainage tile at a site near 131 Queen Street in Ottawa.
The business rents heavy equipment and provides excavation services on construction sites.
At the time of the violation, the excavator operator was digging a trench at the site, court documents said, when the equipment bucket struck a buried two-inch gas utility tee junction box that was connected to a four-inch natural gas line. This caused the junction to crack and spill natural gas to the environment. Over several hours, approximately eight thousand cubic metres of natural gas was released.
Prior to the excavation work, the proper certified natural gas locations had been acquired, but the abandoned gas utility tee was not noted, the ruling said.
Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) guidelines and best practices for excavations around utilities state that hand digging must occur within 12 inches of any gas line.
Enbridge Gas Distributions Inc., the ministry and the Ottawa Fire Services attended the scene and evacuated the public, multiple business/government establishments and several area streets, thereby affecting the city’s transit system.
Natural gas service was shut-off, affecting 44 area customers for several hours and the city transit system incurred approximately over $12,000 in additional operator costs as a result of the disruption. Enbridge Gas stated costs of $39,459 to repair the gas line.
The ministry’s Environmental Investigations and Enforcement Branch investigated and laid one charge which resulted in one conviction.