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Emergency Guidelines
Emergency action procedures for public safety officials
Public safety officials know to take whatever steps are deemed necessary to safeguard the public in the event of a pipeline emergency. Alagasco has prepared a guide for police and fire personnel to use in emergency situations that involve natural gas odors, leaks or fires. Click here to view the guide.
The following suggestions are offered only as a guide:
Secure the area around the leak.
- This could include evacuating people from homes, businesses, schools and other locations.
- This could include erecting a barricade to prevent access to the emergency site.
Take steps to prevent ignition of a pipeline leak.
- This could include rerouting traffic and shutting off electricity and residential gas supply by qualified individuals.
- This could include preventing ignition sources from entering the emergency site.
Contact the natural gas operator.
- Contact the natural gas operator as quickly as possible.
- Pipeline markers provide the company name, phone number and product.
- Do not operate any valves; this action could escalate the emergency.
- The natural gas operator will dispatch personnel to help and aid the response to the emergency.
- The natural gas operator’s personnel will take the necessary actions, such as starting and stopping pumps, opening or closing valves, and similar steps to minimize the impact of the situation.
High Consequence Areas
In accordance with federal regulations, some areas near pipelines have been designated as High Consequence Areas. For these areas, supplemental hazard assessment and prevention programs known as Integrity Management Programs have been developed. If a pipeline operator has High Consequence Areas, information about these plans is available by contacting the operator’s corporate offices.
911 Telecommunication 911 Dispatch personnel play a critical role in effective response to pipeline incidents. Knowing the companies, their contact information, and the products transported in your respective jurisdiction is important for prompt and correct responses in the case of a pipeline incident. Dispatchers actions can save lives, direct the appropriate emergency esponders to the scene, and protect our nations' infrastructure from additional issues hat can be caused by improper response. Follow these simple guidelines in the case of pipeline incident:- Gather the proper information (if possible): company, product, and release caracteristics
- Know the appropriate response to each product
- Know the wind direction at the time
- Warn of ignition sources if possible
- Dispatch appropriate emergency responders
- Contact the pipeline company
