Use your senses of sight, hearing or smell to be alerted to the presence of a gas leak.
Use your senses of sight, hearing and smell, along with any of the following signs, to alert yourself to the presence of a gas leak:
Look
- A damaged connection to a gas appliance
- Dirt or water being blown into the air
- Dead or dying vegetation (in an otherwise moist area) over or near pipeline areas
- A fire or explosion near a pipeline
- Exposed pipeline after an earthquake, fire, flood or other disaster
Listen
- An unusual sound, such as a hissing, whistling or roaring sound near a gas line or appliance
Smell
- The distinctive odor1 of natural gas
1 Some people may not be able to smell the odor because they have a diminished sense of smell, olfactory fatigue (normal, temporary inability to distinguish an odor after prolonged exposure to it) or because the odor is being masked or hidden by other odors that are present, such as cooking, damp, musty or chemical odors. In addition, certain conditions in pipe and soil can cause odor fade - the loss of odorant so that it is not detectable by smell.
Further information is available in our section entitled Don't Rely on Just Your Nose.
Updated 10/2012
