A

 

Affected Facility

An underground or submerged conductor, pipe or structure used in providing electric or communications service (including, but not limited to, traffic control loops and similar underground or submerged devices), or an underground or submerged pipe used in carrying, providing, or gathering gas, oil or oil product, sewage, storm drainage, water, or other liquid service (including, but not limited to, irrigation systems), and appurtenances thereto.

Anomalies

Areas of the pipe wall that are abnormal from the expected thickness and geometry.

Assessed Mileage

Miles of pipe in a pipeline system that has been inspected, tested, and/or studied to determine safety risks.

B

C

 

Company

Person/company that engages in the transportation of natural or other gas or hazardous liquid by pipeline.

 

D

DOT

Department of Transportation

Document Key

A unique number assigned by the system to a saved damage report that has not yet been submitted to the RRC. Use this number to access the incomplete report and finish filing. PLEASE MAKE NOTE OF THE DOCUMENT KEY. YOU WILL NEED TO ENTER THIS KEY TO ACCESS YOUR WORK IN-PROGRESS. WITHOUT THIS KEY, YOU WILL NEED TO RE-ENTER ALL INFORMATION.

 

Damage

Damage includes but is not limited to the following:

• Defacing, scraping, displacement, penetration, destruction, or partial or complete severance of an underground pipeline or of any protective coating, housing, or other protective device of an underground pipeline;
• Weakening of structural or lateral support of an underground pipeline that affects the integrity of the pipeline;
• Failure to properly replace the backfill surrounding an underground pipeline

Damage Depth

The depth of excavation where damage occurred to a pipeline. This does not include any additional depth needed to make repairs.

Downtime

Time that an excavator must delay an excavation project due to failure of one or more stakeholders to comply with applicable damage prevention regulations or best practices. There may or may not be a damage associated with the downtime.

E

EDI

Electronic Data Interface

Emergency

A situation that endangers life, health, or property. Or a situation in which the public need for uninterrupted service and immediate re-establishment of service (if services are interrupted) compels immediate action.

 

Event

The occurrence of facility damage, near miss, or downtime.

Excavate

Movement of earth by any means.

 

Excavation

Any operation using non-mechanized or mechanized equipment or explosives in the movement of earth, rock or other material below existing grade. This includes, but is not limited to, augering, blasting, boring, compaction, digging, ditching, dredging, drilling, driving-in, grading, plowing-in, pulling-in, ripping, scraping, trenching and tunneling.

Excavator

Any person that engages in or is preparing to engage in the movement of earth.

F

Facility

An underground or submerged conductor, pipe or structure used in providing electric or communications service (including, but not limited to, traffic control loops and similar underground or submerged devices), or an underground or submerged pipe used in carrying, providing, or gathering gas, oil or oil product, sewage, storm drainage, water, or other liquid service (including, but not limited to, irrigation systems), and appurtenances thereto.

 

G

Gas

Natural gas, flammable gas, or gas which is toxic or corrosive.

 

H

Hazardous Liquid

Petroleum, petroleum products, or anhydrous ammonia.

 

I

Impact

Any consequences that are a direct result of the accident.

Incident

The occurrence of facility damage, near miss, or downtime.

 

J

Joint Trench

Two or more buried utilities providing separate services share a common trench.

K

L

Locate (or Marking)

An operator's or its contract locator's physical demarcation of the location of an underground pipeline.

Locator

A person charged with determining and marking the approximate horizontal location of underground pipeline that may exist within an area either specified by a notice served on a notification center or designated by white-lining.

Locate Request

A communication between an excavator and one-call center personnel in which a request for locating underground facilities is processed.

M

Material Designation Code

The material designation code is part of the ASTM D2513 and ASTM D2517 specification for thermoplastic and thermosetting plastic pipe, respectively.

Method of Assessment

Methods by which pipeline can be inspected, tested, and/or studied to determine safety risks. General methods include direct assessment and prescriptive.

 

N

Nominal Pipe Size

Nominal pipe size represents the iron pipe size (IPS) dimension for the pipe diameter.

Near Miss

An event where a damage (as defined above) did not occur, but a clear potential for damage was identified. Some examples include, but are not limited to the following:

1. An excavator discovers a buried facility that was not marked or not marked accurately.
2. An excavator is found digging without having notified the One Call Notification Center.
3. An operator fails to respond to a locate request

 

Notice (or Notify or Notification)

The completed delivery of information to the person to be notified, and the receipt of that information by that person in accordance with this chapter (Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 251, Subchapter C.). The delivery of information includes but is not limited to the use of any electronic or technological means of data transfer.

Notification Center

A legal entity established and operated pursuant to Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 251, Subchapter C.

 

 

O

Operator

Person/company that engages in the transportation of natural or other gas or hazardous liquid by pipeline.

One Call Notification Center

An entity that administers a system through which a person can notify owners/operators of lines or facilities of proposed excavations.

 

P

P5 Operator

Person/company that engages in the transportation of natural or other gas or hazardous liquid by pipeline.

Pipe Category

Pipe category is a two or three letter code representing the design temperature (A through E), the hydrostatic design basis (A though G), and the melt index (A through D). Pipe intended to operate at temperatures greater than 73 degrees F (23 degrees C) is marked with this code.

Pipeline System

Contiguous piping used for transmission or distribution of natural or other gas or hazardous liquid as defined by the operator and/or the Safety Division.

Plastic Pipe

Pipe manufactured using polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride material.

Plastic Pipe Inventory Data

Inventory of plastic pipe in a pipeline system, i.e. miles of pipe-by-pipe size, material, manufacturer, pipe category.

Positive Response

Notification to an excavator by markings left at an excavation site, or by fax, phone, e-mail, pager, or written correspondence that allows an excavator to know, prior to the beginning of excavation, that underground pipelines have been located and marked or that there are no underground pipelines in the vicinity of the excavation.

 

 

Proximity Data

Natural or other gas or hazardous liquid transmission pipelines that are within 1000 feet of a public school.

PS-80

Safety Division form specifying plastic pipe failure data.

PS-81

Safety Division form specifying plastic pipe inventory data.

PS-87

Safety Division form specifying pipeline proximity to public schools.

 

Q

R

Report Year

Calendar year for reporting data.

Risk Management and Assessment

Activities performed by an operator to assess the safety risks of their pipelines and then perform inspections, maintenance and/or repair of the pipeline to manage the risk.

 

S

Save

Successfully “Saving” a report moves it to a Work In Progress state. These are incomplete or new reports that have errors or don’t have all of the required data and are not ready for final submittal.

Spot Marking

Making a circle around the spot where excavation is to take place, typically used when standard marking techniques would be considered damaging to property or cannot be used because of limited space.

 

Submit

Successfully “Submitting” a report moves it to a Submitted state and the report can no longer be changed.

System Identification Number (SID)

SID's are maintained by the Railroad Commission of Texas and can be obtained from a SID listing.

 

T

TEA

Texas Education Agency

Third Party Excavator

Any person proposing to excavate or engaging in excavation or demolition work for another person or 3rd party.

Ticket Number

A unique identification number assigned by the one-call notification center to each locate request

Tolerance Zone

Half the nominal diameter of the underground pipeline plus a minimum of 18 inches on either side of the outside edge of the underground pipeline on a horizontal plane.

TDRF

The Texas Damage Reporting Form, the on-line reporting system of the Railroad Commission for use in reporting damage to underground pipelines or violations of this chapter.

 

U

Unit

Organization structure of operators for operation and maintenance of pipeline systems. Usually associated with geographic location.

 

 

V

W

X

Y

Z

Zone

Interval of subsurface formation.