Sunday, November 7, 2010

Lawyer says call proves contractor wasn’t at fault for Hyde Park explosion

A lawyer for the contactor blamed for Wednesday’s gas explosion that leveled a house in Hyde Park said yesterday that a recorded phone call proves his client followed safety procedures and casts blame on NStar for failing to mark all the gas lines in the area.

No one was injured in the blast, which occurred about 8:45 a.m. and shattered windows and cracked walls in nearby houses.

Andrew Daniels, a Boston lawyer for Defelice Corp., said his client placed several calls to Dig Safe Systems, including one on Oct. 1 and one a day before the explosion, to ensure that utility lines, especially gas lines, were marked around 17 Danny Road, where the company was doing work.

In the recording, a copy of which was provided to the Globe, Bob Savage, Defelice general manager, called Dig Safe asking that the gas lines in the neighborhood be remarked:

Dig Safe: Did you want everybody back out?

Savage: No, just the gas company.

Dig Safe: OK, I’ll send that right out. They do have up to 24 hours to respond.

Daniels said the explosion occurred one day plus 10 minutes after that call. The phone call was reported by WCVB-TV Friday night.

According to Daniels, the gas line 45 feet down Danny Road was marked, but a line 12 feet from Danny and Reynold roads was not marked.

“The line that was hit was not marked,’’ Daniels said.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino banned Defelice on Friday from doing any more work with city agencies until a state Department of Public Utilities investigation into Wednesday’s explosion is complete.

Dot Joyce, spokeswoman for Menino, declined to comment yesterday, saying the mayor’s office would await the results of the investigation. Menino lives about a block away from the site of the explosion, on Chesterfield Street.

By John M. Guilfoil, JGuilfoil@globe.com

Source: The Boston Globe

No comments:

Post a Comment

I thank for the comment!