NTSB Recommends Licensed Engineers for Gas Utilities Immediately
NTSB recommends only Professional Engineers be allowed to sign off on gas pipeline and utilities
By: Ryan Malone
Published: 07/21/2019
Repost from NSPE Article.
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The National Transportation Safety Board’s new report on the deadly pipeline explosion in Massachusetts in September calls for a significant legislative change that NSPE has strongly advocated for years: elimination of professional engineer licensure exemptions.
The report, released on November 15, recommends that the state of Massachusetts “eliminate the professional engineer licensure exemption for public utility work and require a professional engineer’s seal on public utility engineering drawings.” In addition, NTSB recommends that, moving forward, NiSource, the parent company of Columbia Gas, have a PE sign and seal all construction documents. NiSource owns and operates the gas distribution system in which the explosions occurred.
NSPE has played a crucial role in the discussions about improving public safety, following the gas pipeline explosion that killed one person and destroyed at least five homes.Over the last several weeks, we’ve been in conversation with the head of NTSB’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations division regarding the gas pipeline explosions that happened in and around Lawrence, Massachusetts. In particular, his team was interested in our position on industrial exemptions. which was seeking information about licensing law exemptions for public utility workers, due to the division’s great concern that the exemption may have played a role in the explosions.
NSPE and NTSB staff spent several weeks discussing the engineering licensing process, its standards, and NSPE’s opposition to licensing law exemptions. NSPE shared several documents, including its industrial exemptions position statement and fact sheet, and public testimony from professional engineers.
NSPE is quoted and referenced several times in the report. NSPE has long been opposed to industrial exemptions. Not only do they create confusion regarding professional licensure, but more importantly, they put the public at risk by not applying the same rigorous standards to every engineer who’s designing and approving the critical infrastructure systems we rely on every day.
To learn more, read NSPE’s Exemptions to Engineering Licensure Laws: A State-By-State Summary and similar reports available here as well as engineering licensing law exemptions in the federal government.