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Gas company employee has safety certificates revoked after Southcreek Trail house explosion: TSSA

An investigation by the Office of the Fire Marshal is nearing completion and a report into the cause of a south end house explosion is expected in the coming weeks
20200203 South Creek House Explosion KA 09
Members of the TSSA, OFM and Guelph Fire Department have a discussion next to the remains of a house on Southcreek Trail. The house exploded Jan. 1 and the TSSA said Friday an Enbridge worker has had his safety certificates revoked. Kenneth Armstrong/GuelphToday

An Enbridge Gas employee who did work at a south Guelph home hours before it blew up has had his safety certificates revoked by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority.

Hours before the 1:40 p.m. explosion a worker for Enbridge replaced the gas meter at the house. A woman and her dog escaped the explosion with no serious injuries.

The TSSA did an investigation into the cause of the explosion and found no fault with the equipment or appliances after an explosion on Southcreek Trail on Jan. 31, said Alexandra Campbell, media spokesperson for the agency.

“There was enough evidence pointing toward procedural problems on the site, so the worker’s three gas certificates have been provisionally suspended and we have moved forward to permanently revoke his certificates,” said Campbell by phone Friday.

The provisional suspensions took effect Feb. 25 and a date will be set to go forward with the permanent suspension, she said.

A parallel investigation by the Office of the Fire Marshal is nearing completion and a report into the cause of a south end house explosion is expected in the coming weeks.

A few days after the explosion, a spokesperson for the OFM told GuelphToday that investigations of incidents like the explosion on Southcreek Trail are usually wrapped up in about 45 days.

Reached by email on Tuesday, OFM communications manager Ryan Betts said the investigation report is nearing completion but not quite finalized yet.

So far, no charges have been laid in response to the incident, said Betts.

A few days after the Jan. 31 explosion, a spokesperson for Enbridge confirmed to GuelphToday that it had changed the gas metre at the house a few hours before the explosion, but said at the time it did not believe the work was not the cause of the explosion.

On Feb. 3, the lead OFM investigator at the scene said the explosion was caused by an action that occurred as a result of the gas meter being changed, but he did not state the exact cause at the time.

At the time the investigator said engineering work into determine the cause could take up to three weeks.

On Friday Betts said the delay in the completion of the final report is not necessarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Sometimes these things just take longer than expected,” said Betts. “Often hard to pin down time frames given varying levels of complexity from one case to the next and the need to ensure the process is consistent and thorough.”

One woman and a dog who were in the house at the time of the explosion were found unharmed shortly after. A backhoe was brought in to move debris to allow the OFM more room to investigate the scene. As of Friday, the property has been cleared and nothing remains of the house.

Permanently revoking the gas certificates of a worker is a serious step for the TSSA to take, said Campbell.

“The incident was extremely serious and extremely rare, thankfully,” she said.


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Kenneth Armstrong

About the Author: Kenneth Armstrong

Kenneth Armstrong is a news reporter and photojournalist who regularly covers municipal government, business and politics and photographs events, sports and features.
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