Little General Store Propane Explosion - US Chemical Safety and ...

Little General Store September 2008
7. September 2006 – Appalachian Heating’s only propane service technician (the lead technician at the
scene of the incident) completes training and becomes fully qualified (in accordance with CETP) to
install propane tank systems. 12
8. Fall 2006 – Little General Store, Inc., begins changing propane suppliers from Ferrellgas to
ThompsonGas Propane Partners.
9. December 2006 – Appalachian Heating reassigns an HVAC technician to the propane business (the
junior technician at the scene of the incident).
10. January 2007 – The two propane service technicians from Appalachian Heating began installing a
new Thompson Gas tank and associated equipment at Little General.
2.2 Day of the Incident
On the morning of Tuesday, January 30, the two propane service technicians traveled separately to the
Little General Store. At around 9:15 am, witnesses observed both of their trucks at the store. According
to Appalachian Heating, the day’s work plan was to transfer the propane from the existing Ferrellgas tank
to the newly installed Thompson tank and place the new propane system in service.
By 9:30 am the lead technician had left the store to make a delivery 31 miles northwest of Little General;
the junior technician remained alone at the store. For the next hour, the junior technician worked alone
while he prepared to transfer propane from the Ferrellgas tank to the Thompson tank.
12 Thompson trained the lead technician on sections 1, 2, and 4 of CETP. The lead technician also spent nearly a full
year working with experienced personnel from multiple Thompson offices.
14