Once winter is behind us, it is time to embark on projects to prepare for next winter. These projects are done more easily during the warmer weather and will prevent losses in all seasons.
Start by taking a few minutes to walk through your buildings to identify the following items:
- Floor Drains: Check floor drains in all boiler rooms, mechanical and electrical rooms, and all rooms containing flammable, combustible, or hazardous materials. In addition, check floor drains in rooms that have fuel lines passing through them.
- Identify where the floor drains empty. All floor drains should be connected to a tight tank system or approved separator. If they aren’t, they must be sealed to prevent contamination of groundwater.
- Fuel oil lines: All fuel oil lines should be equipped with automatic shutoff valves. Many fuel oil lines run through rooms and are either unprotected or have a thin layer of cement covering them. Follow the path of all fuel lines within a building and identify any areas that might result in damaged or ruptured fuel lines. If the fuel line were to rupture, where would the fuel flow?
- Water-line protection: Summertime is the time to make sure water supply lines and heating pipes are adequately protected from freezing. Focus on water lines located on outer, uninsulated or under-insulated walls. It is far easier to insulate pipes during warmer weather than to repair broken pipes and clean up water damage in the freezing winter weather. We also highly recommend that you install water flow alarms -- just in case!
For more information, contact Jeff Siena, MIIA Loss Control Manager at 800-374-4405 ext. 259.
