A mailer attached to the most recent batch of Enstar Natural Gas bills sent to utility company members came with an interesting request: please mind your dog.
Most Enstar customers on the peninsula will notice one of the utility company’s many field employees in their yard from time to time checking the gas meter. In most cases, those meters are on the backside of homes, oftentimes behind a fence. Conveniently for dog owners, fenced backyards are a great way to let our furry friends enjoy the outdoors when we’re not at home. However, for the Enstar employee, those dogs represent a potential hazard.
“Safety is our number one priority at ENSTAR,” the mailer said. “Our employees often encounter dogs while accessing our meter facilities in your yard, and we know that even friendly dogs can become aggressive when protecting the people they love.”
According to Enstar Communications Director Lindsay Hobson, aggressive dogs are not common but common enough to warrant the PSA to members. “Periodically, we come across an aggressive dog. I mean, I think it’s part of the nature of the work that we’re doing. A lot of work outside, a lot of work in people’s yards. And particularly if your meter is located behind a fence in your backyard, we have to open that fence and gain access and so that is where we do see encounters with dogs from time to time.”
Safety tips to help keep Enstar employees as well as pets safe include:
- Post a “Beware of Dog” sign on your fence or house so our employee knows there is a dog on the premises.
- Be sure your dog is up to date on its vaccinations, wears a collar, and responds to basic commands like “stay” and “come.”
- If an ENSTAR employee is working outside your home, keep your dog in the house, even if you have invisible fencing.
- If an ENSTAR employee needs to work inside your home, make sure your dog is in a separate, enclosed area before answering the door.
- For their safety, employees are instructed to never pet or interact with any dogs while they’re on the job.
Hobson added as a reminder, that Enstar employee access to member property is a part of the tariff provisions allowed to the company. This is for several reasons, including emergency situations, like a gas leak, and for routine maintenance.
“Having ready access is important all the time,” said Hobson. “So, usually in the summer, we have technicians that are checking meters to make sure there’s no signs of corrosion and just to make sure that [a meter] is in nice safe operating order.”
Enstar employees are almost always easily identifiable by their safety vests and the company logos on their hats, apparel, and vehicles.