SEAL's 2013 MINI SWEEPSTAKES

 

SEAL Newsletter No. 7 & Sweepstakes

Worley Claims Expo 2013

Congratulations to
Kristi Admire and Howard Porter
Winners of Our Gift Cards at the
2013 Worley Claims Expo!

There is quite a bit of literature and objective data available regarding the risk of natural gas transmission pipelines. The regulators have whittled down the essential information to two important parameters for determining risk for natural gas transmission pipelines. Those two items are the pipe diameter and the pressure.  Engineers were hired many years ago to devise a simpler means of assessing the relative risk, and the records show that for the most part it was successful.  They have actual heat flux figures to draw a line in the sand between high hazard potential or not. There are tables that describe how many seconds one can be exposed before they will receive blisters for a certain heat flux. They define the acceptable heat flux for a structure and then use that objective information along with the density and type of buildings to route the location of the pipeline. These are methods of risk assessment (severity and probability) that are couched in terms of pipelines and population. For example, a school has much greater weight than uninhabited farmland. These figures work well and they help to make risk objective rather than subjective, and based on real data rather than someone’s guess. 

For more of the story see Issue 6 of our Newsletter at www.sealcorp.com/pages.php/newsroom

or contact Gary L. Jackson, P.E., CSP, CFEI at 1-800-624-0905 or gjackson@sealcorp.com for further information.

Do You Know About: AFCI

The National Electric Code (NEC) first specified Arc-Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCIs) be used to protect branch circuits that supply receptacles installed in bedrooms in 1999.  Currently, the 2011 NEC requires combination-type AFCI protection of branch circuits supplying outlets (including hard-wired devices like fans and lights) in most rooms in a house, including living areas, closets, hallways, and more (NEC 210.12).  In most cases, AFCI protection will be provided by installing AFCI circuit breakers instead of normal circuit breakers in the home’s breaker box.  Some exceptions allow AFCI protection at the outlet instead of the panel. 
AFCIs are intended to trip, or disconnect electricity to the attached wiring, if arc current travels, or sparks, from the hot lead of the circuit to the ground or neutral lines. Combination-type AFCI’s add protection against sparks between the ends of a single broken conductor, and has been required since the 2005 NEC.  The determination of whether current flow is due to normal usage of the circuit versus an arc fault is done by signal processing equipment within the AFCI. 

For more of the story see Issue 6 of our Newsletter at www.sealcorp.com/pages.php/newsroom

or contact Brian Haygood, P.E. at 1-800-624-0905 or bhaygood@sealcorp.com for further information.

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