A Texas propane manual should give the office, drivers and service crew clear jobs. Start with the written leak-call procedure. Cover licenses and state incident reports too. Use the Railroad Commission's rules in 16 TAC chapter 9.
Start with the rule that expressly requires writing
Section 9.35 requires every licensee to keep a written procedure for possible LP-gas leak notices. Staff must know it and have authority to act without management oversight. It must include leak grades and tests for action. Have qualified people review it before staff need it.
Name who trains new office staff on leak calls. Show where to get the procedure during an outage. Those are suggested office controls. The rule also requires access for emergency response agencies as specified in its text.
Give licensing and code editions a clear home
Company licenses and single credentials serve different roles. RRC's FAQ covers business activities, license exceptions and who must act as company representative. List what your branch sells, delivers, installs or services. Then check the license category for that work.
Use NFPA 58–2017 for LP-gas and NFPA 54–2018 for fuel gas, with the Commission's changes. RRC lists those adopted editions. Buying a newer book does not change the state's adopted edition.
RRC lists the Bobtail Driver certification. Its initial 2.3 Bobtail Operations course takes eight hours. There is also a continuing-education course. Link each worker's assigned tasks to the state credentials you checked.
Make incident paperwork an assigned job
Section 9.36 covers a licensee that owns, operates or services the affected equipment or installation. Call at the earliest practical moment or within two hours after discovery of a covered event. Deaths and hospitalization are among the listed triggers. Property damage is not the only test.
LPG Form 20 is the written follow-up. Unless AFS grants more time, two deadlines apply. One is 14 calendar days after the first AFS notice. The other is five business days after receipt of the fire department's report. It must be postmarked by whichever comes first. Track both dates.
Questions a Texas manager should resolve
Can our leak-call policy be verbal? Section 9.35 calls for a written procedure. Staff must know it. They need authority to act under it without management oversight.
Can the installer choose any NFPA 54 edition? RRC lists NFPA 54–2018 and NFPA 58–2017, with state changes. Use those references when qualified staff review the work steps.
What can we miss on the Form 20 due date? The earlier deadline controls unless AFS allows more time. Check 14 calendar days from the first notice against five business days from receipt of the fire report. Assign someone to watch incoming reports.
Where do we put the company representative's role? Name the person in the license section. RRC gives that person main authority and active supervision of licensed work. The Category P exception still matters.
Connect daily work with the other written programs
Bring your branch forms and assigned jobs to a manual discussion. Read the national manual page for its full scope. If your transport work meets the federal test, name who owns the separate plan. The Texas security-plan guide covers that question.
Bill Stomp built Propane Safety Pro. He is a war veteran who personally ran over 87 propane branch offices across 12 states, and he has helped more than 200 propane companies improve their profits, sales, safety and operations.
Propane Insider is published by the makers of Tank Spotter, Custom Fuel App, Blink Fuel, PIMS and Propane Safety Pro; some links go to advertisers.
General information, not legal advice.