1. Meter Set Protection American Gas Association
Charlie Zambito
Gas Standards Specialist
October 31, 2013

2. NiSource Gas Service Territories in Seven States4
NIPSCO 3 2 1 5 6 7

3. NiSource Gas Service Territories
3.3 Million customers
Residential
Commercial
Industrial
60K+ miles of pipeline
NIPSCO

4. We Believe Safety Vision
Our Values
We Believe
Every employee must go home safe and healthy every day
Safety begins with Leadership commitment and is driven by engaged employees
All injuries and collisions are avoidable
Personal ownership for safety and looking out for others is an essential responsibility
Honesty, open feedback, and trust are the keys to a positive safety culture
Pipeline and public safety is our business
To be a premier company, we must be premier at safety
Safety Vision
NiSource Gas Distribution employees at every level demonstrate personal commitment to continual safety improvement.
We are a company that has aggressively worked at developing a strong safety culture. Our employees are actively focused on improving personal and public safety. This is not only apparent in our improved safety metrics, but is easily witnessed within the organization when observing accident reviews, near miss discussions , weekly worksite tailgates, and the employee engagement on our safety teams.
Pipeline and public safety is our business and a core focus of our safety culture. As an organization we have active infrastructure replacement programs in all of our states, we are continually working to improve our emergency response times and damage prevention numbers, and we now have strong and active integrity management teams evaluating system risks.
One advantage that we have as an organization is to leverage best practices across operating companies. In the area of damage prevention for instance we have a few of our states that are industry leaders, the employee actions and procedures used in those states can then be leveraged to drive improvements in our other operating companies. I want to discuss one area of process improvement regarding barholing practices that we are rolling out across our operating companies.

5. Damage Data

6. What does Code say?
Each meter and service regulator, whether inside or outside a building, must be installed in a readily accessible location and be protected from corrosion and other damage, including, if installed outside a building, vehicular damage that may be anticipated. However, the upstream regulator in a series may be buried.
( Customer meters and regulators: location; Amendment ,68 FR 53895, September 15, 2003)

7. NiSource Currently…
Has procedures in place to protect LV rotary and turbine meter sets
Discourages the placement of residential and small commercial sets where they would be exposed to damage, such as in driveways and parking lots
Directs the customer to provide “suitable” protection under our direction

8. Anticipating Vehicular Damage…
Type of road
private, residential, federal/state highway, limited access highway
What are the road attributes
curb/no curb, guide rail/no guide rail
Function of driveway
residential, commercial, industrial

9. Other Factors to Consider…
Off-road activity
four-wheeling, snowmobiling, farming operations
How about natural barriers
swales, earth embankments, terrain
What about weather-related conditions
ice, snow, snow removal

10. When Vehicular Damage is Anticipated…
Meter < 5 feet from a roadway, driveway or driving surface edge or road side edge of curb, shall be protected by at least 2 bollards.
Meter exposed to perpendicular vehicle parking shall have at least 2 bollards installed if the curb edge or edge of driving surface is < 8 feet from the meter set.
Maximum spacing of bollards is 4 feet on center.
Bollards shall be installed no closer than 1 foot from the front of the meter set assembly and shall be positioned to allow for operation and maintenance activities.

11. What Constitutes a Meter Setting…
A meter setting also includes, where installed, first/second/third cut (as required) service regulators

12. Parallel Traffic…
Needs protection

13. Perpendicular Traffic…

14. Remote Meter Set….
Farming Activities….

15. Residential and Small Commercial

16. Large Commercial and Industrial Bollard Design
Size of Piping to be Protected
Size of Bollard
2” – 6” 4”
8” – 12” 6”
16” and Larger 8”

17. Some Creative Engineering…

18. Protection from Snow and Ice
Where a roof overhang does not cover the meter set assembly, consideration shall be given to providing additional protection (e.g., protective meter enclosure) in locations where it is reasonably anticipated that snow or ice accumulation could negatively impact the meter set.
Bennett Regulator Vent Skirts

19. Questions?