Con Ed ‘confident’ after training lapses

David Giambusso

After recent revelations that some technicians in Con Edison's gaspipe-fitting unit did not meet state training requirements, utility officials insisted to state investigators that the system remains safe and well-maintained, despite the lapses.

In the utility's first response to an investigation by the state Public Service Commission, Con Ed vice president Edward Foppiano wrote that the utility is "confident in the integrity of the plastic piping installed in our gas distribution system. ... Con Edison is confident that the prior lapses in installer qualification did not compromise the integrity of the gas system and that all plastic pipes placed in service have been fused and tested according to acceptable procedures and specifications."

The utility has come under increasing scrutiny since a gas explosion in March killed eight people in East Harlem and injured scores of others.

Last month, Capital reported that the commission had launched a new investigation into Con Ed, after determining some of the company's pipe-fitters had not met state-mandated training requirements. (Pipe-fitters who worked on the East Harlem lines were not among those who failed to meet the requirements.) The P.S.C. investigation demanded Con Edison hand over detailed information about their training practices as well as their plastic pipe safety measures.

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