Elusive smell serves as emergency reminder to owners.

On January 8, 2007 tens of thousands of New Yorkers were annoyed with the smell of natural gas (actually the smell was Mercaptan the ingredient intentionally added to odorless natural gas so that it may be detected). The affected area was widespread, from downtown Manhattan to Central Park across the width of the Manhattan Island. What is most troubling about this incident is that both the government and the real estate community did not now how to properly respond to this incident. So far the source of this contamination has not yet been identified. Even more troubling was a complete lack of direction New Yorkers had in how to respond to this type of situation.

Why should a minor annoyance of smelly gas be a concern? After all, it was only a release of natural gas and the only negative effects were a small number of people who got headaches, nauseated and slight respiratory inflammation. That is true, this time.

The fact of the matter is that if this were a truly dangerous release of a highly toxic substance (either intentionally or accidentally caused) literally tens of thousands of New Yorkers may have been severely injured or killed. This is not an unrealistic exaggeration.

If terrorists managed to release a chemical weapon or toxic nerve agent the results would have been catastrophic. Depending upon the agent used, at the very least thousands would have been sickened or killed. This fact is made even more troubling because many of these potential casualties could be protected with a simple, fast and universally applied application of a carefully constructed emergency action plan.

The proper response by city officials is critical in these sorts of situations. City agencies must provide clear direction immediately to the citizens of New York. Delay could be deadly. In the recent gas odor situation, a slight delay in dealing with the issue and getting proper notification to the city could have made a difference had this been a true catastrophic incident. What should the advice given have been? Immediately implement shelter in place procedures; shut down the buildings air intakes, close windows, recall elevators to the lobby or lowest floor of travel and lock them with doors closed. The goal of these measures is to minimize the amount of potentially contaminated air that may enter the building. Nothing can completely prevent air from coming into a building or facility. This is an exercise in minimization of air transfer from outside to inside.

The most expeditious manner of implementing these measures is by the use of a "One Point" shutdown which will immediately shut down the HVAC system. However, many buildings do not have such a system. Many buildings have an HVAC system but also have numerous smaller package or supplemental units that are not tied into the Class E system. This is even more of a concern in stores, shopping centers, apartment buildings and residential dwellings. Other buildings have literally hundreds of window air conditioners that represent the main method in which the building may be cooled and ventilated. In some properties there are literally hundreds of open windows to contend with. All properties must have a plan in place that identifies both the persons responsible to secure air-handling units and to prioritize the units that must be shut down first. Generally we tend to recommend such prioritization be developed from the ground up. The reason for this is that most chemical agents and poisons tend to be heavier than air and will therefore be more of a danger at ground level (and below grade) and the floors closer to the ground

As of December 31, 2006 the city of New York now requires that almost all class E buildings create Emergency Action Plan to detail how to contend with non-fire related emergencies (in effect creating a counter-terror plan). However, many buildings, while they have emergency action plans in place, either do not know how to properly implement their plans, have incomplete plans or no plan whatsoever to address the aforementioned issues. It is by no means an exaggeration to state that we are literally talking about a matter of life and death. What must happen is that adequate plans must be developed, staff must be trained and the protocols implemented instantly upon first notice that a toxin may be present in the outside air. Quick, correct and decisive action can be a life-saving measure.

BY EVAN LIPSTEIN, PRESIDENT, HYLINE SFAETY