Engineers News - April 2015

It’s never a dull day for a pipeliner
Story and photos by Mandy McMillen, managing editor
It’s no secret – pipeliners are a different breed.
Their work is not for the faint of heart. It’s high-pressure, and
we don’t just mean pressure coursing through the pipes during
the mandatory hydro-tests they perform! Whether they’re
putting in miles of brand-new pipe or testing an ancient one
for safety, these members often deal with gas mains and work
around fragile fiber-optics in tight quarters. If they miscalculate
only slightly and make a line-strike, they risk termination!
“We need an acre, and they give you 50 feet!” said Pipeliner
Ed Fournier, while getting ready to lower a section of 14-inch
pipe for Snelson in Elk Grove.
Then there’s the travel. Like the members of a band, many
pipeliners are part of a traveling crew. They stay in hotels or
bring along their trailers and become a local for the duration of
the job. They follow the work, which can take them anywhere
and everywhere.
“I’ve been all over the nation,” said Fournier. “The traveling’s
fun.”
Pipeliner Heiko Moessner, the foreman for Snelson on the Elk
Grove pipeline-replacement job for PG&E, has been pipelining
for 25 years and a Local 3 member for more than 10.
“It’s fun to pick up heavy things,” he said, referring to the
sideboom on the job, which is basically a crane on a dozer. “We
live like rock stars. … I go where the money is.”
Then there’s the terminology.
“It’s got its own language,” said Apprentice Jon Bradford,
who was digging out the bell holes when we caught up with
him.
“Bell hole” is a pipeline term for a hole dug in the ground
over or alongside a pipeline so the line can be examined.
Other interesting terms include “barrel,” the beginning
or end-point of a pipeline, “buckle,” a partial collapse of the
pipe wall and “cleaning pig,” which is a device used to clean
unwanted debris from inside the pipe.
While pipelining terms vary from job to job and state to state
(there are several hundred terms), one thing is certain: Pipeliners
generally love what they do, pride themselves on their skills and
safe habits and develop strong friendships with their traveling
crew.
“It’s good people out here,” said Moessner about his crew.
For Bradford, the experience of the seasoned crew has been
helpful, since he is learning the ropes and thankful for the ability
to do so. (Apprentices aren’t normally placed on pipelining jobs.)
According to veteran Fournier, good pipeliners must have “a
lot of common sense and pay attention to what the supervisor
says and what the codes are.”
The Elk Grove job is just finishing up, meaning operators
have replaced about 2-½ miles of 14- to 24-inch natural-gas
pipeline and put in two regulation stations.
Then, it’s on to the next show!
Francisco Garcia performs an as-built survey
for Guida Surveying on the PG&E pipeline
replacement job in District 80.
Pipeliner John Powell likes the
60-hour work weeks that pipelining
sometimes provides.
Hoe-hand Ed Fournier prepares to place a pipe, as Apprentice Jon Bradford
assists.
From left: Pipeliner Richard
Rogers and Foreman
Heiko Moessner work on
a pipeline-replacement job
for PG&E.
April 2015 | 15