New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 16 - DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE
Chapter III - GAS UTILITIES
Subchapter C - Safety
Part 255 - Transmission And Distribution Of Gas
General
Section 255.3 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 16 NY Comp Codes Rules and Regs § 255.3

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 12, March 26, 2025

(a) As used in this Part:

(1) Approved means prior approval must be granted by the department, except in emergency situations.

(2) Building of public assembly means any school, hospital, nursing home, institution licensed by New York State for the care of children, or any factory which normally employs 75 or more persons; or any other building with a nominal capacity of 75 or more persons to which the public is regularly admitted. Structures which are used solely as office buildings or residential apartments and normally have no other utilization in excess of the 75-person limit are excluded from this definition.

(3) Distribution line means a pipeline other than a gathering or transmission line.

(4) Field regulator means a pressure regulating device with an outlet pressure in pounds per square inch serving two through ten residential gas customers. This regulator is also known as a farm tap regulator.

(5) Follow-up inspection means an inspection performed after an outside leak repair procedure has been completed in order to determine the effectiveness of the repair. It includes retests of all positive inside leak indications and outside readings from the original classification.

(6) Gas means natural gas or other fuel gas, including liquefied petroleum gas distributed as a vapor.

(7) Gathering line means a pipeline that transports gas from a current production facility to a transmission line, main, or directly to an end user.

(8) High pressure distribution system means a distribution system in which the gas pressure in the main must be reduced before delivery to a customer.

(9) Hoop stress means the stress in a pipe wall, acting circumferentially in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pipe and produced by the pressure of the fluid in the pipe.

(10) Hot tap means a branch piping connection made to an operating pipeline or other facility while it is under gas pressure.

(11) Leakage investigation means a survey conducted for the purpose of determining the extent of potential hazard and classifying a leak in accordance with section 255.807 of this Part. It involves the driving or boring of holes at sufficient depth and testing the atmosphere in these holes and other available openings with a properly calibrated combustible gas indicator (CGI) or approved equivalent device.

(12) Leakage survey means a systematic survey made for the purpose of locating leaks in a gas piping system using an approved instrument which continuously analyzes atmospheric samples near ground level and is capable of detecting the presence of gas in parts per million in air.

(13) Listed specification means a specification set forth in section I of Appendix 14-B of this Title.

(14) Long-term hydrostatic strength means the estimated hoop stress in psi in a plastic pipe wall that will cause failure of the pipe at an average 100,000 hours when subjected to a constant hydrostatic pressure.

(15) Low-pressure distribution system means a distribution system in which the gas pressure in the main is substantially the same as the pressure provided to the typical customer.

(16) Main means a distribution line that serves as a common source of supply for more than one service line.

(17) Maximum actual operating pressure means the maximum pressure that occurs on a system during normal operations over a period of one year.

(18) Maximum allowable operating pressure means the maximum pressure at which a pipeline or segment of a pipeline may be operated under this Part.

(19) Maximum certified operating pressure means the maximum pressure at which a pipeline may be operated, as certified by the original filing under section 255.302(b) of this Part, a predecessor rule thereof, or as modified in accordance with section 255.555 or 255.611 of this Part.

(20) Municipality means a city, county, or other political subdivision of New York State.

(21) Operator means a person who engages in the transportation of gas.

(22) Person means any individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, association, State, municipality, cooperative association, or joint stock association, and including any trustee, receiver, assignee or personal representative thereof.

(23) Pipe means any pipe or tubing used in the transportation of gas.

(24) Pipeline means all parts of those physical facilities through which gas is transported, including pipe, valves, and other appurtenances attached to pipe, compressor units, metering stations, regulator stations, delivery stations, holders, and fabricated assemblies.

(25) Pipeline facility means new and existing pipeline, rights-of-way, and any equipment, facility, or building used in the transportation of gas or in the treatment of gas during the course of transportation.

(26) Plastic means a material which contains as an essential ingredient one or more organic polymeric substances of large molecular weight, is solid in its finished state and, at some stage of its manufacture or processing, can be shaped by flow. The two general types of plastic referred to in this Part are thermoplastic and thermosetting.

(27) Reading means any sustained deviation on a properly calibrated combustible gas indicator (CGI) or approved equivalent instrument taken in a sample point expressed in percent LEL (lower explosive limit) or percent gas-in-air.

(28) Secondary stress means stress created in the pipe wall by loads other than internal fluid pressure. For example, backfill loads, traffic loads, beam action in a span, loads at supports and at connections to the pipe.

(29) Service line means the piping, including associated metering and pressure reducing appurtenances, that transports gas below grade from a main or transmission line to the outlet of the customer meter or at the connection to a customer's piping, whichever is further downstream where a meter is located within the building; if a meter is located outside the building, the service line will be deemed to terminate at the outside of the building foundation wall.

(30) SMYS means specified minimum yield strength.

(31) Stub means a service line that terminates at or before the property line.

(32) Thermoplastic means a plastic which is capable of being repeatedly softened by increase of temperature and hardened by decrease of temperature.

(33) Thermosetting plastic means a plastic which is capable of being changed into a substantially infusible or insoluble product when cured by application of heat or chemicals.

(34) Transmission line means a pipeline, other than a gathering line, that:
(i) transports gas from a gathering line or storage facility to a distribution center or storage facility, or directly to a large volume user that is not downstream from a distribution center; or

(ii) operates at a hoop stress of 20 percent or more of SMYS; or

(iii) transports gas within a storage field.

Note:A large volume customer may receive similar volumes of gas as a distribution center, and includes factories, power plants, and institutional users of gas.

(35) Transportation of gas means the gathering, transmission, or distribution of gas by pipeline, or the storage of gas.

(36) Excess of flow valve means a device installed in or near the service tee to prevent gas from flowing downstream in the event of failure of the service between the tee and meter. When the gas flow through the device exceeds a designated rate, the valve automatically closes and stops all or a major portion of the gas flow.

(37) Abnormal operating condition means a condition identified by the operator that may indicate a malfunction of a component or deviation from normal operations that may indicate a condition exceeding design limits or result in a hazard(s) to persons, property, or the environment.

(38) Evaluation means a process, established and documented by the operator, to determine an individual's ability to perform a covered task by any of the following: written examination; oral examination; work performance history review; observation during:
(i) performance on the job;

(ii) on the job training;

(iii) simulations; or other forms of assessment.

(39) Qualified means that an individual has been evaluated and can:
(i) perform assigned covered tasks; and

(ii) recognize and react to abnormal operating conditions.

(40) Covered tasks are activities, identified by the operator, that:
(i) are performed on a pipeline facility;

(ii) are operations and maintenance tasks;

(iii) are performed as a requirement of this Part; and

(iv) affect the operation or integrity of the pipeline.

(41) Abandoned means permanently removed from service.

(42) Customer meter means the meter that measures the transfer of gas from an operator to a consumer.

(43) Service regulator means the device on a service line that controls the pressure of gas delivered from a higher pressure to the pressure provided to the customer. A service regular may serve one customer or multiple customers through a meter header or manifold.

(44) Department. For this Part, department shall mean the Department of Public Service, Office of Electric, Gas and Water, Safety Section, or its successor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223-1350, (518) 474-5453, Safety @dps.ny.gov.

(45) Alarm means an audible or visible means of indicating to the controller that equipment or processes are outside operator-defined, safety-related parameters.

(46) Control room means an operations center staffed by personnel charged with the responsibility for remotely monitoring and controlling a pipeline facility.

(47) Controller means a qualified individual who remotely monitors and controls the safety-related operations of a pipeline facility via a SCADA system from a control room, and who has operational authority and accountability for the remote operational functions of the pipeline facility.

(48) Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system means a computer-based system or systems used by a controller in a control room that collects and displays information about a pipeline facility and may have the ability to send commands back to the pipeline facility.

(49) Action corrosion means continuing corrosion that, unless controlled, could result in a condition that is detrimental to public safety.

(50) Electrical survey means a series of closely spaced pipe-to-soil readings over pipelines which are subsequently analyzed to identify locations where a corrosive current is leaving the pipeline.

(51) Pipeline environment includes soil resistivity (high or low), soil moisture (wet or dry), soil contaminants that may promote corrosive activity, and other known conditions that could affect the probability of active corrosion.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. New York may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.