Safety Home Page | Gas Leaks & Detection
Being prepared for emergencies is important for all businesses, but for The Gas Company, emergency preparedness is critical to providing safe and reliable natural gas to all our customers. By preparing for emergencies, The Gas Company is able to respond quickly and effectively when customers need service safely restored.
The Gas Company’s Emergency Operations Center plays a key role in our emergency response by serving as a central coordination center for recovery strategies, customer communications, and coordination with public officials. The Emergency Operations Center is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and staffed by experts who receive specialized training in emergency response. Our Emergency Operations Center workforce keeps their skills sharp by participating in disaster exercises.
The center is open up to 24 hours a day during disasters that may affect the operation of the gas facilities serving our customers. Our emergency response teams work with public officials, law enforcement, fire departments and others as needed to assess impacts, contain the crisis, and protect public and employee safety. Our goals also include maintaining natural gas service and, if needed, restoring gas service as quickly as possible.
Below are some key areas of responsibilities that the Emergency Operations Center coordinates in an emergency.
Safety is always our first priority. After a major emergency or disaster, The Gas Company acts quickly to assess any damages to our pipeline system and take appropriate action on any issues that could affect public or employee safety.
Damage assessments start with a physical patrol of our transmission and distribution pipeline systems. This initial assessment helps develop an estimate of crews required, resources and materials needed, as well as the estimated time to complete restoration. The assessment helps ensure restoration resources are deployed effectively.
The Gas Company is well stocked with emergency materials and equipment staged throughout our service territory. After an emergency, The Gas Company’s Emergency Response Team initiates a logistics plan that includes staging sites, hotels, food, and other items necessary to support crews from outside of the affected area or crews from other companies.
If natural gas service has been disrupted, the restoration process typically starts with the large transmission pipelines required to bring natural gas into the region, followed by distribution lines which move the gas into communities and around neighborhoods. Service lines which bring gas to individual homes and businesses are addressed once the transmission and distribution systems are repaired.
In the event of a major emergency, it may not be possible to provide meaningful restoration information right away as we assess the extent of the damage to our system.
January 30, 2009
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