Safety Information

Millions of households and businesses in the United States rely on natural gas to heat water, cook food, dry clothing, and heat their homes.

Natural gas is a safe and reliable fuel if used correctly.  The following sections explain what you should do if you smell gas or discover a natural gas leak in your home or business.

Call Before You Dig - It's The Law!

Home owners and contractors planning to do an outdoor project must call before digging. Marking underground utilities protects yourself and others from injury and prevents damage to underground lines.

Below are links that make it easy for you to call before you dig:

• National Call 811 Before You Dig
• Pennsylvania One Call Website
• Dig Safely New York
• West Virginia One Call Website
• The Utility Notification Center of Colorado
• One Call Of Wyoming
• Blues Stakes of Utah Utility Notification Center

What To Do If You Smell Gas

Natural gas is odorless and colorless and while you can't see a natural gas leak you will smell natural or manufactured odors. Below are steps you should take if you experience a natural gas leak:

• Do not try to find the source of the leak. Get out of the building immediately.
• Do not turn any lights or electrical switches on or off. Doing so can create a spark which could ignite a fire.
• Once you are safely out of the building find a phone and call your utility company or 9-1-1.

 

How to Recognize a Gas Leak

A natural gas leak can be detected by smell, sight or sound. You can smell a gas leak if the gas contains a natural odor or artificial odorant.

However, most transmission lines carrying pipeline quality natural gas often do not contain an odor, therefore a leak is not detectable by smell.

The following are signs of a natural gas leak even if you can't smell it:

• Dead vegetation
• Blowing dirt
• Bubbles rising in water
• Flames
• Loud roaring - high pressure lines
• Hissing sound - low pressure lines
• Bubbling noise in water

 

Gas Leak Hazards

In order for natural gas to ignite it must be exposed to an ignition source and have approximately 5-15% gas in air mixture. Concentrations less than 5% are too lean or have too little gas to burn.

Concentrations greater than 15% are too rich or have too little oxygen to burn. Controlling the gas to air mixture and, or removing all ignition sources can avoid natural gas explosions and fires.

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