Safety
Pure natural gas is colorless and odorless. Scents in the form of traces of mercaptans are usually added, to assist in identifying leaks. This odour commonly takes the form of rotting eggs. Persons detecting the odor must evacuate the area and abstain from starting fires or using sparking electrical equipment.
As a result of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 passed in the United States, Federal Safety Standards require companies providing natural gas to conduct safety inspections for gas leaks in homes and other buildings receiving natural gas. The gas company is required to inspect gas meters and inside gas piping from the point of entry into the building to the outlet side of the gas meter for gas leaks. This requires entry into private homes by the natural gas companies in many cases.
Read more about this topic: Gas Leak
Famous quotes containing the word safety:
“For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman;... but what beside safety they got by sailing in the middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love its water for the same reason that I do.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The safety of the republic being the supreme law, and Texas having offered us the key to the safety of our country from all foreign intrigues and diplomacy, I say accept the key ... and bolt the door at once.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)
“Perhaps having built a barricade when you’re sixteen provides you with a sort of safety rail. If you’ve once taken part in building one, even inadvertently, doesn’t its usually latent image reappear like a warning signal whenever you’re tempted to join the police, or support any manifestation of Law and Order?”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)