Utility Week

24 | 27TH APRIL - 3RD MAY 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Operations & Assets "Thanks to the huge co-ordinated effort of the UK gas networks, gas supplies were restored to the town in record time." Opinion Mark Horsley I t was early on Good Friday morning that we became aware of reports of a gas escape and no gas in the Silsden area. Our system control team confirmed that gas pressures had fallen dramatically and said we were dealing with a large-scale loss of supply. Our priority was to make the situation safe, and with emergency response engineers already on the ground in Silsden, we assessed the situation and acted quickly, turning off the valve to isolate the damaged gas main. We mobilised a remote strategic incident control room in Sunderland, and set up two operational bases in the town. With the operational team based out of Sils- den AFC's clubhouse, a community drop-in centre was quickly established for customers at St James' Church, around a mile up the road. More than 100 Northern Gas Networks engineers were draed in on Friday morning and a call for non-oper- ational volunteers was put out business -wide. Teams of colleagues quickly arrived on site, supported by vol- unteers from the Silsden community as well as partner organisations including Bradford City Council, British Red Cross and others who helped us to identify custom- ers in vulnerable situations and take care of them. Our priority, having discovered the scale of the incident, was to get customers back on gas quickly, and it was clear that we would have to issue a call for mutual aid from gas distribution networks across the UK. We quickly invoked the industry national emergency plan and mutual aid agreement, and an army of engineers from across the UK was deployed to join the Northern Gas Networks team in the restoration effort. Within hours, engineers from the UK's gas networks – Wales and West Utilities, Cadent and SGN – had rallied their teams and more than 100 engineers from Wales, the Midlands, south- west England and Scotland arrived in the town to help get the gas flowing. By the time they arrived, our engineers had already started visiting each of the 3,500 properties affected and safely turning off the gas supply meter. We made a strategic deci- sion early on to split the town's gas network into four key zones by flow stopping six gas pipes in the affected area. The largest, Zone 1, supplied 1,100 proper- ties, and was the first to be reintroduced to gas. On Saturday evening we began to reconnect a small number of properties at the meter. On Sunday morning our engineers continued to work in Zone 1 while engineers from Wales and West Utilities led the restoration effort in Zone 4, where two nursing homes were prioritised. Meanwhile the Northern Gas Networks team started to reintroduce gas to Zone 2 up to the meter. Engineers from Cadent then took up the role of restoring supplies to properties, going door to door to safely turn customers back on gas. On Sunday evening the gas supply was restored to the final zone, Zone 3. At this point, just two days aer the incident was declared, more than 1,700 properties were back on gas. Early on Monday morning, engineers from Cadent turned customers back on at the meter and our engineers began door knocking properties to speak to customers where they hadn't been able to gain access and leaving information asking them to get in touch. Clear communication was vital, and customers were kept informed through hand-delivered letters and infor- mation published on NGN's website and social media channels as well as the local Facebook community page. Northern Gas Networks also walked customers through every step at the drop-in centre in St James' Church. It was a huge co-ordinated effort – from frequent tel- ephone calls between the off-site incident control room and the on-site operations centres, everyone had a role to play. The support of the Silsden community itself was equally important. Local people welcomed gas engineers into their homes, and announced gas reconnections on social media as they progressed from street to street. All the time, the community drop-in centre remained open between 8am and 10pm for customers to speak to the team and get support including heaters, hotplates and food vouchers. NGN appeared on ITV Calendar's evening news programme, BBC Look North and BBC Radio Leeds to update customers on progress. Thanks to the huge co-ordinated effort of the UK gas networks, led by Northern Gas Networks, gas supplies were restored to the town in record time. For me this incident highlights just what can be achieved by our industry when we work together and how vitally important the UK gas networks is. We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved and we're looking forward to returning to Silsden later this year, at the invitation of the local community, to celebrate the response that weekend. It's definitely a bank holiday we won't forget. Mark Horsley, chief executive, Northern Gas Networks

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