Do you know what to do if you smell gas in your facility?
How you react truly could mean life or death for you and your employees.
Natural gas leaks can turn deadly in minutes. It won’t wait for you to call a meeting and formulate a response. Prepare now. Have a reaction plan and response team in place. It will give you the head start needed if a natural gas emergency strikes.
Ask anyone who has gone through a natural gas emergency – they never expected it to happen at their facility. So plan and prepare, so you can protect your employees and property. A successful outcome tomorrow depends on how you plan and prepare today.
Your three-step reaction plan
Step 1:
Evacuate the building.
Get everyone out of the building to a safe location, following your facility’s evacuation procedures.
Make sure to practice this drill. Instruct people not to operate ANY electrical devices that might spark
an explosion, including:
- Mobile phones
- Equipment or machinery
- Lights
Step 2:
Make emergency calls after moving away from building.
Have a member of your emergency response team call 911 and the Alliant Energy Natural Gas Emergency Line at 1-800-ALLIANT (800-255-4268). When asked if this is a life-threatening emergency, say “YES”.
Provide the name and mobile phone number of your company’s main contact. This might be the head of maintenance or the facilities manager. It should be an employee that has access to utility rooms and outdoor equipment. Also, let Alliant Energy know where the main contact will meet our responders.
Note: The main contact should create a natural gas emergency response team. This team will accompany emergency responders and Alliant Energy to specific areas, provide directions and open locked facilities.
Information to provide Alliant Energy when we arrive onsite:
- Location of gas leak/odor
- Facility maps (indicating any private or privately-owned underground gas facilities or propane systems)
Step 3:
Unlock all doors for emergency personnel as you exit the facility.
Pre-assign this task to a member of your natural gas emergency response team to ensure this is completed.
Alliant Energy's reaction plan
Our goal is to make repairs and restore your system as safely and quickly as possible, so you can get your equipment and employees back in business.
To do that, we follow our emergency restoration plan:
- Most importantly, protect life and property. We work closely with emergency responders to make sure your facility is evacuated safely. We may need to disconnect the electricity if there is an ignition risk.
- Find the leak. We determine the location of the leak (if it is in our system or yours).
- Gain control of the leak. No matter where it’s located, we will isolate the leak or shut off the gas supply and ventilate the facility. We then determine what repairs are needed and notify your facility’s main contact.
- Fix the leak. If the leak is in your natural gas system, you will then need to contact a qualified contractor to make repairs. If the leak is part of our system, we will repair the issue as quickly as possible.
- Get you back in business. Once the leak is repaired (by us or your contractor), we will turn your natural gas back on and assist you in re-starting your natural gas-powered equipment.