What type of clearance, OSHA training, etc. would you require before asking an employee to probe for a Natural Gas line?
All they need is to be smart enough to run if they hit the pipe with the probe then hear a leak. With the high concentration of gas, there is time to clear the area long before an explosive mixture is created. That is what I told my crew while probing every 25 feet along 85 miles of high pressure NGS pipe.
The specifications of the job should be your guide and don't employ anyone that has no common sense. Common sense alone saves more lives than any safety training, usually given by someone without common sense, knowing what the book says but not enough to know when the book is wrong and have the guts to say so.
jud.
How big of a line are we talking about? Pipeline companies are usually very touchy about their pipelines. Anytime you are doing any excavation around one, they have their own line locator there and they'll do the probing, or will be watching closely.
If you have a leak...
... in your oil fired heater, you get a spot on your rug. If you have a leak in your gas heater, you get a spot on your lot!!! Just a little humor as related to me by an old friend-no charge for that there;-) and sorry about the hijack!!
Depending on where you are located, high priority subsurface utility installations, such as a high pressure natural gas pipeline, have additional requirements for locating and excavating. I would contact your state OSHA representative and request clarification on the requirements. JRL
Mnay pipeline operators require training thru Veriforce.
Call DIGTEST, and they will come out and show you exactly where the gas line runs.
Call Bubba's Backhoe Service and he can show you where the pipeline is within a 20 foot crater...
Correction Jeff
"Call Bubba's Backhoe Service and he can show you where the pipeline was within a 20 foot crater..."
And you are lucky if the crater is that small.
Paul in PA