How to Advise a Customer After a Hazard Event

Why this matters

The first call after a storm or an earthquake is usually answered by whoever is at the desk, not by a tech, and the caller wants to hear one of two things: "go ahead and turn it back on" or "your insurance will cover it." Both are the wrong first answer. The right first answer is a few questions that find the gas leak, the live wire in the water or the moved water heater before the customer does something with it, then plain instructions about what to leave alone, what they can safely look at, and what needs a professional before it runs again. Get the order right and the call keeps someone from getting hurt. Get it wrong and the shop's advice is part of the incident report.

This card is the phone call. The equipment inspection itself belongs to the SOP and the flood assessment card. See related: The Post-Event Equipment Inspection SOP; How to Assess Equipment After Floodwater.

Step 1: Screen for immediate danger before anything else

Ask these before any question about equipment, in this order, and act on the first yes.

• "Do you smell gas, or hear hissing near a gas line or appliance?" If yes: everyone leaves the building now, without switching anything on or off, without using a phone inside, and without starting a car in an attached garage. Call the gas utility's emergency line or 911 from outside and well away. Do not go back in until the utility says so.
• "Is there a power line down on the property, or touching anything?" If yes: stay well away from it and anything it touches (a fence, a car, standing water); utilities commonly say 30 feet or more. Call the utility or 911. Treat every downed line as live.
• "Is there water in a room with outlets, a panel, or equipment that was running?" If yes: do not walk into the water. If the panel can be reached from a dry place without touching water, switching off the main is reasonable; if not, call the utility to disconnect the service. Water and an energized circuit is a shock path through the person standing in it.
• "Is the house damaged in a way that worries you: a sagging ceiling, new cracks, a door that won't close, a chimney that moved?" After an earthquake especially, if yes: get out and stay out until a professional has looked at it.
• "Is anyone hurt, or does anyone have a medical device that needs power?" If someone is injured, 911 first. If someone depends on oxygen or other powered equipment and the power is out, that call is to 911 or their medical provider, not to you.

Why first: these are the hazards that kill in the hour after an event, and a customer focused on the furnace will not mention them unless asked. What breaks if skipped: the office spends four minutes on model numbers with a caller standing in a garage full of gas.

Step 2: Tell them what not to touch

Once nothing is immediately dangerous, the next job is to stop well-meant restarts.

• Do not restart anything that was under water: a furnace, water heater, condenser, pool equipment, panel or appliance. Gas valves, controls and motors that have been submerged can fail in ways that do not show until they are running.
• Do not reset a breaker more than once. A breaker that trips again is reporting a fault.
• Do not turn the gas back on at the meter or at a seismic shutoff valve that closed. Gas utilities generally restore service themselves or require a qualified person, because every pilot and appliance downstream has to be checked and relit.
• Do not run a generator inside, in a garage or near a window, and do not plug one into a household receptacle. See related: Generators, Backfeed and the Lineworker.
• Do not start a heat pump or condenser that has tipped or moved. Refrigerant lines may be kinked or cracked.

Why: most secondary damage after an event is done by the restart, not the event. What breaks if skipped: a flooded gas control valve is relit and leaks, or a moved water heater is fired with its flue disconnected and backdrafts into the house.

Step 3: Give them the checks that are safe to do themselves

Customers want something to do. Give them checks that need eyes, not tools.

• From outside, look at outdoor units: are they upright, on their pad, with the refrigerant lines attached?
• After an earthquake: is the water heater upright and in place, are its straps intact, is the vent pipe on top still connected?
• Is any water line leaking? If so, and the main water shutoff can be reached safely and dry, close it.
• Photograph everything before cleanup, with the time stamp on: wide shots of each room or area, then close-ups.

Why: a customer who knows the water heater moved six inches tells you so on this call, and the tech arrives with the right parts and the right caution. What breaks if skipped: the customer's own cleanup removes the evidence the insurer needs and the tech needs.

Step 4: Name what needs a professional before it runs again

Be specific; "have it looked at" is not advice.

• Gas appliances that were under water, moved, or are on a gas line that was shut off: a qualified technician checks the gas connection, venting and controls before relighting.
• Anything electrical that was under water, including the panel: an electrician before power is restored to it.
• An outdoor unit that tipped, floated or was hit: a technician checks the refrigerant lines and electrical connections before it runs.
• A chimney or masonry flue after an earthquake: inspected before any fire or appliance uses it.

Step 5: Keep the insurance answer inside what you know

You do not know what their policy covers. Say so, and say what you can do.

• Do not say "insurance will pay for that," "that's definitely a covered loss," or "they'll replace the whole system."
• Do say "Your insurer decides what's covered. What I can do is document what we find, with photos and readings, so your adjuster has it."
• Policies commonly require the owner to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage (stopping a leak, covering an opening), and the customer's agent or insurer can tell them what that means for their policy.
• Do not ask a customer to sign an assignment of benefits or a contract on this call. Several states regulate contractor solicitation and claim assignments after a disaster, and Florida largely ended assignments of benefits for property policies issued from 2023. The rules vary, and this is not legal advice.

What breaks if skipped: a promise made at the desk becomes the customer's expectation, and when the adjuster decides otherwise the shop owns the disappointment and possibly a complaint.

Step 6: Triage the booking

Put the call into the queue with what you learned, in an order your shop states in advance. A common starting point: no heat in freezing weather or no cooling in dangerous heat for a household with someone vulnerable; active water entering the house; equipment that is off and safe; everything else. Write on the job what the customer was told not to touch, so the tech knows the equipment has not been restarted.

Worked example: the call after a quake

A moderate earthquake hit at 6:40 am. At 8:15 the office takes this call. The customer had a water heater installed by the shop four years ago.

CUSTOMER: The water heater's crooked and there's water
  on the garage floor. Can you send someone today?
OFFICE: Yes. First, do you smell gas in the garage?
CUSTOMER: Maybe a little. I thought it was the water.
OFFICE: Then I need you and everyone else out of the
  house now. Don't touch the lights or the opener. Walk
  out the front, and call the gas company's emergency
  line from the sidewalk. I'll stay on if you like.
CUSTOMER: Okay. We're outside. Do I shut off the gas?
OFFICE: Only if the gas company tells you to and you
  can do it outside at the meter. They'll guide you.
CUSTOMER: Are you coming?
OFFICE: Yes, after the gas company clears the house.
  Until then don't go back in, and don't turn anything
  on. When you can, take photos from the doorway.
CUSTOMER: Will insurance cover a new heater?
OFFICE: That's your insurer's call. We'll write up
  what we find with photos so your adjuster has it.

What the office records: gas odor reported, household evacuated at 8:17, customer calling the gas utility, water on the garage floor, water heater leaning, installed by the shop (install date in the file), customer told not to re-enter or restart, tech dispatch pending utility clearance.

Why the office did not ask about the water first. The water on the floor was the customer's concern and the obvious lead. A leaning water heater after a quake can pull its gas connector, which is the hazard; the office asked about gas because the event and the equipment together point there, before the caller's own framing.

What changes the answer. If the customer had smelled nothing, the office would still tell them not to relight or adjust the heater, to close the cold-water valve to it if they can reach it dry, and to keep people away from the gas line until the tech arrives. If the heater were on its side, the gas company call comes first regardless of odor. If the shop's install record showed no seismic straps on that heater, the tech goes with straps on the truck. See related: How to Strap a Water Heater for Earthquakes.

The failure mode. "Smells a little, probably the water" is how a slow leak gets ignited by an opener motor. The office's job in that moment was not to judge the smell; it was to treat "maybe" as yes.

How to check the call went right

• The ticket shows the five screening questions asked and answered before any equipment question.
• Every "do not touch" instruction given is written on the job, so the tech can confirm it on arrival.
• No ticket from the event contains a coverage promise. Review a sample a week after the event.
• A call where the screen found a hazard is reviewed with the person who took it, so the script is practiced on real cases rather than remembered.

References

• Your gas utility's and electric utility's published guidance for gas odor and downed lines
• CDC guidance on generator carbon monoxide and safe use after disasters
• See related: The Post-Event Equipment Inspection SOP; How to Assess Equipment After Floodwater; Working with Insurance Claims Reference