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Keep Your School Safe, Contact 811 Before You Dig
Underground utility pipelines can be located anywhere, including under streets, sidewalks and private property – sometimes just inches below the surface. Hitting one of these pipelines while digging, planting or doing demobition work can cause serious injury, property damage and loss of utility service.Whether you are planning a major development or just landscaping campus, make sure to contact 811 two business days before digging. Submit a request online or dial 811, this is a free service available to everyone. Representatives will coordinate with us and other utility owners in the area to mark the locations of buried utility-owned lines.
SoCalGas does not mark customer-owned natural gas lines, which typically run from the meter to the customer’s natural gas equipment. To have customer-owned lines located and marked before a project, contact a qualified pipe-locating professional.
For more information, visit 811.
For an additional educational video sponsored by U.S. DOT and Common Ground Alliance, click here.
811 Activity Worksheets
Build safety awareness with students regarding the importance of damage prevention and contacting 811 by sharing these printable activity worksheets with your students.
Grades K-2 Safety Activity
Grades 3-4 Safety Activity
Grades 5-6 Safety Activity
Recognize a Natural Gas Leak
Be aware of signs you may see, hear or smell when there is a leak.
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Look
If you see a damaged connection to a natural gas appliance, dirt/water blowing into the air, a dry patch of grass, fire or an explosion near a pipeline.
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Listen
If you hear unusual sounds like hissing or whistling.
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Smell
If you smell the distinctive odor[1] of natural gas.
[1] Some persons 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), a temporary loss of smell due to COVID-19, 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 pipeline and soil conditions can cause odor fade (the loss of odorant so that it is not detectable by smell).
Report a Natural Gas Leak
If you suspect a natural gas leak or pipe damage that may endanger life, cause bodily harm, or property damage, immediately evacuate the area, and from a safe location call 911 and SoCalGas at 1-800-427-2200.
- Do not smoke or light a flame, or turn electrical appliances and/or lights on or off.
- Do not use any device that could cause a spark.
- Do not attempt to control the leak or repair damaged pipe or meter. Natural gas leaking from a plastic pipe can create static electricity that can ignite the natural gas.
Emergency Preparedness Resources
Ensure you are prepared to quickly respond and protect students, staff and facilities. Learn more about emergency preparedness.
Pipeline Markers and Maps
One in every 20 schools in the United States is located within a half mile of a petroleum or high pressure natural gas transmission pipeline or above ground pipeline facility.
Pipeline markers indicate only the approximate, not exact, location of buried pipelines. Markers also do not indicate the depth or number of pipelines in the area. These yellow markers display the pipeline operator's name and a phone number to call in case of emergency.
Find pipelines or use the National Pipeline Mapping System.