Page 17 - Gi flipbook February 2018

A
thousand times more
powerful than the human
nose, a dog’s sense of
smell is unmatched.
From explosives
detection to sniffing out illegal
drugs, dogs have some of the most
highly developed snouts in the
animal kingdom.
Possessing 300 million olfactory
sensors compared to our own rather
paltry six million, dogs can detect
smells up to 26 feet underground and
in parts per trillion. In addition, the
part of their brain devoted to
identifying different scents is
estimated to be around 40 times
bigger than that of a human.
This incredible super power has been
deployed for years by the police, army
and HMRC, but is new territory for UK
utilities. Northern Gas Networks, the
gas distributer to 2.7 million homes and
businesses in the north of England,
northern Cumbria and much of
Yorkshire, is changing this.
With gas leaks taking an economic,
environmental and social toll on the
network every year, innovative gas
detection methods are continuously
sought. Thanks to Network Innovation
Allowance funding, NGN has
undertaken a UK first – a trial to
assess the ability of detection dogs to
detect natural gas leaks under
operational conditions in Great Britain.
Ultimately, the project sought to
demonstrate how dogs could be used
to support engineers in emergency Midge gets ready to work
and repair field operations. But, their
ability to cut leakage detection times mixture of 80 per cent t-butyl if they could locate the point of a leak
and reduce unnecessary excavations mercaptan and 20 per cent dimethyl with greater accuracy and in less time.
has the potential to be a game- sulphide at an application rate 6mg/m After receiving a brief about the site,
3
changer, not only in everyday business of gas, which would create a strong the dog handler assessed the area for
but in stakeholder engagement too. smell to a human at one to three per distractions or hazards, deciding
Add to this a reduction in cent gas in air – equal to 10,000 to whether to work the dog on or off the
greenhouse gas emissions and 30,000 parts per million. lead down one side of a street, then
minimised associated cost savings The dogs detected levels equivalent the other, before moving to the middle.
around leakage, labour, road surface to gas at 45 parts per million, correctly Neither dog was worked for no longer
reinstatement and traffic management, identifying 60 per cent of hidden than 20 minutes at a time, with
and it’s a compelling idea. samples and graduating to phase two. frequent breaks for water and shade.
Working with sniffer dog specialists This second phase involved live The method used saw the dog
BK Integrity on phase one, and more trials with the dogs deployed to 14 search within 15 metres of the leak
recently with former police dog live gas escape sites on the NGN (NGN protocol for an Operational
handler Stephen Foster, two springer network in Sunderland across four Response Engineer) and when
spaniels took part in the project: days. Each site contained multiple searching for the leak the dog assumed
Midge, a nine-year-old male who points where the gas could be the ‘quartering’ position – fast wagging
previously worked in explosives detected, but were not necessarily the of its tail and a crouched body pose.
detection, and former drug dog Millie, source of the leak. Midge indicated the presence of
a three-year-old bitch. At present, hand-held Gascoseekers mercaptan by lying on the ground,
The pair were trained to detect (along with bar holes or rock holes) wagging his tail with his nose next to
minute quantities of mercaptan – the are used to pinpoint leaks, but the highest point of concentration, trying
odorant that gives natural gas its trial sought to show that detection to engage eye contact with his
familiar smell. This contained a dogs could be an asset to this process handler. Millie, meanwhile, touched

25
17

GasDetectionDogs.indd 2 18/01/2018 11:21