Photo: James Rojas/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — On Thursday, Eversource highlighted its new manhole cover designs they say will help prevent injuries during manhole explosions.
Following a manhole explosion on Newbury Street that led to multiple evacuations and outages on Tuesday, Eversource President of Electric Operations Douglas Foley said there’s a reason they’ve been working hard to swap 99% of Boston’s manhole covers.
“Over the last three years, we've had an aggressive program to replace all the manhole covers, the 45,000 manhole covers we have in the Commonwealth,” said Foley. “And the manhole cover is designed to allow any pressure as a result of an electrical failure to open up, release, but keep the cover intact.”
The new covers have a latch system that keeps the over 200-pound cover in place if a large amount of pressure or energy is dispersed due to an electrical malfunction.
“And the manhole cover is designed to allow any pressure as a result of an electrical failure to open up, release, but keep the cover intact,” said Foley. “And if the energy operates the cover, the cover only lifts about four inches.”
Manhole explosions usually occur when flammable gas builds up underground, and a spark from faulty wiring causes a reaction. Foley added that snow and salt left from the storm were likely a factor in Tuesday’s explosion.
“Slushy, salty melt, and if we have a break in our insulation, typically what happens is the conductor arcs over, and there’s an electrical fault that occurs,” said Foley.
WBZ NewsRadio’s James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.