Early Warning of Natural Gas Leaks Can Prevent Deaths and Injuries
The Problem
- It is vital that occupants evacuate a building when a natural gas leak occurs or is suspected.
- Although natural gas is generally a safe source of energy, when a pipeline or natural gas appliance leaks, the gas can migrate into a building and reach dangerous concentrations that can ignite and explode.
- Without additives, natural gas is odorless and cannot be easily detected if it leaks and accumulates. Therefore, pipeline safety regulations require that gas companies add odorant to allow people to detect gas leaks. The odorant smells like sulfur or rotten eggs.
- The addition of odorant does not always alert people to the presence of natural gas because:
- Some people cannot smell it, are sleeping, do not know that the odorant is associated with natural gas, or are not in the part of the building where the natural gas is accumulating.
- The odorant can be stripped out of the gas, leaving it odorless again, if the natural gas migrates through soil before entering a building.
- Natural gas customers may not be aware of the existence of natural gas alarms, which are safety devices that monitor the air for natural gas and sound an alarm, similar to a smoke detector, if they detect dangerous levels of natural gas. These devices can alert people to the presence of natural gas in the building so that they can evacuate safely.
Source: https://www.ntsb.gov/advocacy/safety-alerts/Pages/SA-098.aspx