Failure to properly inspect and maintain a two-mile natural gas pipeline system resulted in an explosion in the Hickory Hills Mobile Home Park, Bath, Pennsylvania, that killed 65-year-old William Neith on Feb. 14, 2014.  As a result, Pennsylvania regulators have leveled a $2 million fine against operators of the community.

The Allentown Morning Call tells MHProNews that the state Public Utility Commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement found a litany of violations, including that the Northampton County manufactured home community and its corporate owner, Continental Communities of Oak Brook, Illinois, had not registered its two-mile natural gas pipeline system with the state for inspection for years.

The manufactured home community also had no written procedures in place on how it would control corrosion of the pipes or track maintenance, the PUC said. It also had no written procedures on training employees and communicating with first responders in the event of a natural gas disaster.

Hickory Hills has 20 days to respond. If there is no response, the PUC could issue an order imposing the penalty.

State investigators said in documents released Thursday that the PUC requests a maximum civil penalty due to the “egregious and serious nature of this incident, which includes a fatality.” If not for a state cap on fines, Hickory Hills would have faced a $7.8 million fee for the violations, according to the document.

The PUC also said a survey seven years before the fatal explosion found multiple leaks and recommended the pipeline system be removed. The PUC also found reports of a leaking gas line at Neith’s home in 2012 and 2014, but projects to replace pipes were canceled.

Lehighvalley.live tells MH ProNews that William Neith and girlfriend Hilda Parsons first complained of the smell of natural gas more than a month before the explosion, according to the report. A community employee and a certified handyman visited the home several times but were unable to find the source of a leak, according to the report.

The gas became so bad that both next-door neighbors complained to community management. The smell “got progressively worse each day to the point that when they would step out of their house, it would bum their eyes,” the report said.

The night of the explosion, Neith was burning candles in the house to mask the smell because community officials assured him his home was safe, Parsons told investigators. ##

(Photo Credit: Lehighvalleylive.com)

 

Article submitted by Sandra Lane to – Daily Business News – MHProNews.