Excavation damage is a recognized threat to pipeline integrity when external human activity contacts the pipe body creating a change in shape (i.e., dent, ovality) or wall thickness (i.e., gouge). Industry standards provide similar, but slightly different variations on this definition:
• ASME2 B31.8S (1) Section A-8: “Third party damage is defined in this context as third-party inflicted damage with immediate failure, vandalism, and previously damage pipe.”
• API3 RP 1160 (2) Annex A.9: “This threat arises from excavation, drilling, boring, farming, or other soil moving or removal activities where the mechanical equipment being used comes in contact with a buried pipeline causing it to leak or rupture.”
• CSA4 Z662:19 (3) Annex H: “Third party: Inadvertent external interference by a person or group of people other than the operating company and its employees and contractors.”