Saturday Gas Job With a Generator, a Sewage Pit, and the Master Two Hours Away
A journeyman plumber and an apprentice are sent on a Saturday to an occupied three-family to replace 12 ft of 1 in. gas piping and add a shutoff for a new range. The master plumber who holds the permit is at a family event two hours away. The utility has locked the meter off. The basement is lit by a gasoline-powered generator running beside the boiler because the electrical panel is being replaced. A sewage ejector pit with a broken, unbolted cover sits 2 ft from the work area and is nearly full. The journeyman hands the apprentice a garden hose and a bucket and tells him to 'go down and clear the pit,' then picks up a reciprocating saw to cut into the gas line. A tenant upstairs reports smelling gas.
1. What are the immediate actions when the tenant reports a gas odor, and what should not be done?
Read the worked answer
Stop everything, remove ignition sources, and get the utility and fire department involved - in that order.
Immediate actions:
- Shut down the generator first. A running gasoline engine in a basement is both an ignition source and a carbon monoxide source, and it is sitting in the same room as an open gas line.
- Stop the saw. A reciprocating saw on gas pipe produces sparks and heat.
- Evacuate and notify. Get the tenants out, call the gas utility and the fire department from outside the building, and do not re-enter until they clear it.
- Do not hunt for the leak with a flame or with anything that produces a spark. Use a calibrated combustible gas detector once the space is cleared and the utility has authorized re-entry.
- Do not re-light anything. No pilot relighting, no breaker operation, no switches.
What not to do: do not 'just tighten it and air it out,' do not pressurize a leaking line to find the leak, and do not leave the building to go get parts while the odor is present. A reported gas odor in an occupied three-family is a utility-and-fire-department event first and a plumbing event second. Later, when work resumes, the piping must be reassembled and pressure-tested before the utility is asked to restore service - and that test should be witnessed and documented.
2. Evaluate the instruction to 'go down and clear the pit.' What is required before anyone enters that space?
Read the worked answer
That instruction should be refused, and the journeyman giving it should know better.
A sewage ejector pit is a textbook permit-required confined space: below grade, limited entry and egress, and capable of generating hydrogen sulfide and other toxic gases, oxygen deficiency, and - because sewage generates methane and the space is near gas work - a flammable atmosphere. The broken, unbolted cover makes it worse: the space is open to the work area and to any ignition source.
Before any entry:
- Atmospheric testing for oxygen, flammables, and H2S, with a calibrated four-gas meter, taken at the top, middle, and bottom of the pit.
- Forced ventilation and continuous monitoring while the space is occupied.
- An entry permit, an attendant outside, a retrieval system (tripod and harness), and a rescue plan with trained rescuers - 911 is not a rescue plan for a confined space.
- Lockout of the pump so it cannot start on the entrant, and control of any ignition sources, including the generator.
Better practice: clear the blockage from outside the pit using the cleanout, or pump the pit and rod from the accessible opening. Most pit blockages do not require entry at all. The correct answer on an exam is that entry is the last resort, not the first instruction from someone in a hurry.
3. What licensure and supervision problems exist on this job, and what must the journeyman do?
Read the worked answer
Several, and they compound:
- Supervision of the apprentice. An apprentice works only under the required supervision. Sending an apprentice into a pit alone, or leaving the apprentice to work gas piping unsupervised, is a supervision failure regardless of the journeyman's intent.
- Scope of the journeyman's authority. The permit is the master's. Gas work must be performed under the master's supervision, and the journeyman cannot simply substitute his or her judgment for the master's where the master is expected to be responsible for the work - particularly when the work involves cutting into and re-routing gas piping and connecting an appliance.
- Call the master. The journeyman's obligation is to stop work and reach the master, not to 'handle it' because it is Saturday. If the master cannot supervise, the gas work waits.
- Covering for the situation. No one should sign or certify anything on this job until the piping has been properly assembled, tested, and inspected, and the confined-space and CO hazards have been abated.
- Safety stop is a licensure act, not just a courtesy. Walking off a job that presents an imminent hazard to occupants and workers is the correct professional response and should be documented in writing to the master and the owner.
The exam judgment: scheduling pressure and a boss's absence never transfer responsibility away from the licensee who is standing in the basement.