PSC Finds 70 Percent of Con Ed Gas Worker Non Compliant

 This story comes from Capital New York where the first sentence reads as follows. 'Nearly 70 percent of Con Edison workers responsible for the utility's sprawling natural gas network were found to be be out of compliance with state safety regulations because they had not taken an annual qualification test, according to papers filed with the Public Service Commission.'

  It seems that it took a natural gas explosion in May for state regulators at the PSC to take a closer look at just who was installing the new high pressure gas lines in city streets. Capital reports that In its latest filing with the P.S.C., Con Edison reported 186 employees and 115 contractors—301 out of 443 in all, or just under 68 percent—were found to have not taken an annual test required by the state for recertification in gas-pipe fitting, according to documents filed with the commission Monday. On subsequent testing, 62 workers failed one or more qualification tests

  “We are confident that these requalification lapses did not compromise the integrity of our gas system," a Con Edison Spokesperson told Capital N.Y.  In a recent filing, Con Ed said it identified 12 leaks related to the plastic pipe fusions since 2003 that could be attributed to workmanship. 

  Here is the link to the entire Capitol N.Y. article most-con-ed-workers-found-out-compliance-state-regs.