oanarit Print Page <= National Fire WJ Protection Association NFPA The authosty on fit, elecical, and building safety Home > News & Publications > NEPA Journal» November/December 2011 >Cover Story COVER STORY eed Pee! Cte The Kleen Energy plant following the explosion. (Photo: AP/Wide World) The Making of a Standard NFPA responded to a deadly power plant explosion in 2010 by creating a new consensus standard in a fraction of the time required to complete a typical document. The result, NFPA 56 (PS), demonstrates the ability of standards development organizations to move quickly to help safeguard lives and property. NFPA Journal®, November/December 2011 By Fred Durso, Jr. Edward Badamo was athome when he heard the distant rumbling sound. Itwas about 11:15 on a Sunday morning, and at frst Badamo, who is chief of the South Fire District in Middletown, Connecticut, and off duty at the time, thought the rumbles were the sounds of his two Rottweiler dogs wrestling. He soon learned otherwise. Badamo's teenaged son heard the dispatches on his father's emergency radio and was the first to Inform him that the noise was something worse —an explosion had occurred at Kleen Energy, a natural gas- fueled power plant under construction about five miles away. Badamo arrived at Kleen Energy minutes later and witnessed a horrific scene: large plumes of ‘smoke and fire erupting from the rear of the building, bloodied workers carrying their injured colleagues to safety as other workers frantically searched for survivors, ignoring the smoke and flames and live electrical hazards, The damage was so catastrophic that it ook Badamo, who was the incident commander, and the other first responders nearly two days to account for all of YOUTUBE VIDEO CLIPSPrint Page the plant's employees, both alive and deceased. Sixworkers died and nearly 50 others were injured. “twas a very complex scene that required a large: number of resources from various agencies to mitigate hazards, rescue victims, and provide support for emergency management,” Badamo says. "Td been on site prior to this accident. To see it completely destroyed, it took a few days for that to sink in.” The explosion, which occurred on February 7, 2010, was caused bya "gas blow," according to an investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB). Gas blows are a commonly used cleaning procedure in natural gas-fueled power plants, where flammable gas is blown through piping at high pressure to remove debris such as welding slag or other foreign materials. Ten minutes before the Kleen Energy explosion, for example, approximately 480,000 standard cubic feet (13,592 cubic meters) of natural gas was released, according to the investigation. The gas was being vented from an open-ended pipe into. an area where dissipation was impeded by other equipment at the level of dis charge before it found an ignition source. Construction of the plant, which was close to completion when the explosion occurred, was heavily regulated, but there was no standard guiding the gas-blowing procedure. NFPA acted swifly to address this concern through the development ofits first provisional standard, NFPAS56 (PS), Fire and Explosion Prevention During Cleaning and Purging of Flammable Gas Piping Systems (nfpa.org/56). The new provisions now prohibit the use of flammable gas during cleaning procedures while safeguarding a range of activities related to cleaning and repairing piping systems. The introduction of a fast-track provisional standard also represents an important step in NFPA's evolution as a standards development organization. Using a framework for expedited standards created bythe American National Standards Institute (ANSI), NFPA developed its, ‘own procedures to govern the use of a provisional standard process, one that complies with, and exceeds, the minimums set bythe ANSI requirements. ‘The provisional standard process means that safelyissues can be addressed — in the form of a consensus standard — much faster than they could before, NFPA’s code development process, for example, typically lasts 104 weeks, and if contested through certified amending motions, the process can take as long as 141 weeks. NFPAS6 (PS) was developed in less than 24 weeks, from the first technical committee meeting to issuance bythe Standards Council. Fewer than 76 weeks elapsed from the Kleen Energy explosion to the issuance of a consensus standard addressing th d thildt th dit NFPA senior engineer Denise Beach illustrates several Industrial practices covered by NFPA 6. NFPA Vice President Chris Dubay on the expedited process behind the development of NFPA 56. SIDEBAR Blasts From the Past Incidents similar to the Kleen Energy explosion underscore dangers of gas blows RAPID RESPONSE February 2010 ‘An explosion accurs at the Kleen Energy power plant in Middletown, Connecticut, during @ pipe cleaning procedure using flammable natural gas. Six workers die, and nearly 50 others are injured in the blast june 2010 The Chemical Safety Board issues its report on the Kleen Energy explosion, which outlines "urgent Fecommendations" to NFPA and other parties with the intent of regulating the intentional release of natural gas at workplaces October 2010 NFPA's Standards Council establishes @ new NFPA technical committee to develop a standard on gas process safety November 20 NFPA's Board of Directors authorizes the Standards Council to implement the development of the new standard using expedited procedures set forth by the American National Standares Institute March 2011 NFPA's Standards Council approves the committee scope and roster for the gas process safety standard April-july 2011 ‘The Technical Committee on Gas Process Safety convenes once a month for four months and develops NFPA 56 (PS), Fire and Explosion Prevention, During Cleaning and Purging of Flammable Gas Piping Systemsoanaiit Print Page "This is an example of the critical role NFPAplays The Standards Council issues NFPA 56 (PS) in providing codes and standards for use by government and other entities throughout the world," says NFPA President James Shannon. "Our ability o bring together the right people at the right time and to facilitate a consensus process in very short order resulted in a standard that will save lives and prevent a tragedy like the one in Connecticut from happening in the future," Sense of urgency Despite the Kleen Energy tragedy and a handful of other gas-blow procedures that have gone awry, flammable gas Is stil commonly used during certain pipe cleaning procedures, Two months after the Kleen Energy explosion, the CSB, a federal agency that investigates industrial accidents, initiated an industy survey that identified natural gas blows as a principal procedure for cleaning newly installed fuel gas piping. About half of the respondents who used the procedure indicated they did not follow a technical evaluation for determining how much gas is actually needed to eflectively clean pipes. Underscoring these findings is that nearly 4,250 natural gas-fired power plants currently operate in the U.S, and that 145 additional plants are expected to be operational nationwide by 2016, according to the electric power plants database developed by Platts, a global provider of energy information Following its Kleen Energy investigation, the CSB announced urgent recommendations on gas procedures to NFPA and other standards-development organizations. NFPA's Board of Directors responded by authorizing NFPA's Standards Council to evaluate and, if warranted, execute the development of a gas process safely standard using an expedited process approved by ANSI. Developed in 2003 and referenced in an annexot the ANS! Essential Requirements, the process outlines circumstances when a provisional standard is applicable. The Standards Council determined that NFPA's proposed standard met ANSI's criteria, since it would “result in an improvement to the safeguarding of life, and there’s a well-established need for the prompt dissemination of information that addresses an emergency situation,” as stated in the ANSI procedures. NFPAis only the second organization to use the provisional standard process. Following incidents of children being strangled by window blind cords, the Window Covering Manufacturers Association used ANSI's procedures to develop a provisional standard last year aimed at improving the safely of corded products. "The provisional standard option provides a readily available process when there is an urgent need for an interim document that addresses life safety, an emergency situation, or other special circumstance," says ANSI President and CEO S, Joe Bhatia. "NFPA’s decision to rely upon the provisional standard process will help deliver new safety criteria for the commissioning and maintenance of fuel gas piping systems." Alits October meeting last year, NFPA’s Standards Council voted to establish the NEPAS6 Gas Process Safety Technical Committee. Five months later, the Council approved the committee scope and roster while Urging the committee to proceed expeditiously in the standard’s development. Industries sitting on the committee include the American Gas Association, insurance agencies, consulting firms, and energy companies. The committee held its first meeting in April One of the committee's first actions was to expand the document's scope to include new and existing flammable gas piping systems — not just fuel gas — for electric-generating plants and industrial, ‘commercial, and institutional applications. Piping systems covered in other NFPA documents — including NFPA2, Hydrogen Technologies Code; NFPA ‘54, National Fuel Gas Code; NFPAS8, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code; and NFPA SQA, Production, Storage, and Handling of Liquefied Natural Gas — are not applicable, since these codes have specific piping requirements. ‘The Standards Council officially approved NFPA 6 (PS) in August. "The committee demonstrated incredible dedication to the effort by showing up every four weeks on very short notice," says Denise Beach, staffliaison for NFPAS6 (PS) and an NFPA senior engineer. "This standard represents a commitment notjuston the part of NFPA, but more importantly on the part of our volunteers as well.” ANS! regulations require a provisional standard to enter into a full revision process of its respective standards development organization within 45 days of issuance. In the case of NFPAS6 (PS), the standard has entered NFPA's annual 2013 revision cycle, and public proposals on the new edition — which would drop the provisional, or PS, stipulation — are now being accepted. The deadline for submitting proposals for the Annual 2013 revision cycle is November 25. NFPAwill consider developing other provisional standards if other ‘emergencies require immediate action from the codes and standards community. “The provisional standard process is a method to address urgent safety concerns while maintaining the Integrity of NFPA’s open consensus process,” says Christian Dubay, NFPA's vice president of Codes and Standards and chief engineer, "This gives us a unique tool to address the most pressing needs, should others arise.” Standard procedures