What do I do in a commercial plumbing emergency at 2 a.m.?

Take these steps in this order:

1. 1Smell gas? Leave. Southwest Gas says to exit the building immediately, tell others to evacuate, and leave doors open. From a safe place, call 911 and Southwest Gas at 877-860-6020, day or night. Don't turn switches, thermostats or appliance controls on or off, and don't use lighters or matches. (A rotten-egg smell in a restaurant isn't always gas. Our page on gas smell in a restaurant explains the difference, but until you're sure, treat it as gas.)
2. 2Keep people out of standing water near electricity. Ready.gov's advice is blunt: "Do not touch electrical equipment if it is wet or if you are standing in water." Floodwater can also be contaminated, and it advises against wading in it.
3. 3Stop the water. Close the nearest fixture or zone valve, or the building's main shutoff. If the water's coming from a fire sprinkler pipe, call your fire protection company before closing any sprinkler control valve, because closing it takes the building's fire protection out of service.
4. 4Move what you can. Lift inventory, records and electronics off the floor if it's safe.
5. 5Note the time and take photos of the source and damage before anything is cleaned up. You'll want them for the insurance claim.

### What if it's sewage, not clean water?

Treat sewage as a health hazard, not just a mess. The CDC's advice for anyone cleaning up sewage is to wear rubber boots, goggles and gloves, and to cover any cuts with a waterproof bandage. Keep staff and customers out of the affected area, and do not let anyone mop it up without protective gear. Sewer gas can also be present. OSHA notes that hydrogen sulfide, which occurs in sewers, smells like rotten eggs at low levels but can stop being noticeable to the nose, and that the effects range from headaches and eye irritation to unconsciousness at higher levels. If anyone feels dizzy or sick, move everyone outside and call 911. A restaurant should close the affected area to food handling until it has been cleaned and the health authority is satisfied. Our page on multi-tenant sewer backups covers what a property manager should do first.

Phoenix Water Services says to use the 24/7 line for incidents like "a main break or overflow." Phoenix's building code (Section 116.3) also puts notification duties on whoever controls the building: the gas utility immediately for unsafe gas piping, Water Services immediately for any backflow, back siphonage or cross-connection incident, and the building official within 72 hours of damage to required building service equipment. Your plumber can help with the last one.

### What should happen after the plumber leaves?

The emergency isn't over when the water stops. Before you go home:

• Get a written finding. Ask the plumber to note what failed, where it was, what was done and what remains. It is useful for the insurer, the landlord and the next repair.
• Confirm whether a permit is needed. A stop-gap repair may be exempt, but replacing concealed pipe, moving fixtures or replacing equipment usually is not. Our page on commercial repair permits in Phoenix explains the difference, including the 72-hour rule for emergency equipment replacement.
• Photograph the dried area and the repair before anything is covered.
• Send written notice to the property manager, landlord or tenant who needs to know, and to your insurance carrier. Our page on tenant versus landlord responsibility helps sort out who pays.
• Schedule the permanent fix. A temporary clamp or cap is a bridge, not a repair, and the same weakness may exist in the other pipes of the same age.

A dispatcher can send the right person faster when they get six things in the first minute:

1. 1Address and suite, with a cross street and which entrance is closest to the problem.
2. 2What's happening: clean water, wastewater or sewage, and roughly how fast. "A 2-inch line spraying" sends a different truck than "a toilet running over."
3. 3What you've done: whether the water is shut off, and where the shutoff valves are.
4. 4What's at risk: tenants below, the kitchen, server rooms, elevators, an electrical room, inventory.
5. 5How to get in: gate or alarm codes, key box location and a phone number for someone on site.
6. 6Who can approve the work: owner, property manager or tenant, and whether the lease or the building's emergency contract decides who gets billed.

Write those six lines in a note on your phone or in the building's emergency binder, and update them when a tenant or manager changes. It takes ten minutes now and saves half an hour at 2 a.m.

### What should you avoid doing?

A few well-meant moves make an emergency worse:

• Do not walk through standing water near electrical equipment. Ready.gov's advice is not to touch electrical equipment if it is wet or if you are standing in water. Shut off power at the panel only if you can reach it dry and safely, and otherwise leave it for the electric utility or an electrician.
• Do not close a fire sprinkler control valve to stop a leak without calling your fire protection company first. Closing it takes fire protection out of service.
• Do not open walls or ceilings yourself to chase a leak. A plumber can locate it with less damage, and an opened wall can spread contaminated water.
• Do not wait for the morning on a gas smell, sewage or a burst main, since damage and hazards grow by the hour.
• Do not agree to open-ended work over the phone. Ask for the price up front, and a description of the repair, before the truck starts.

The single best prevention step is a labeled valve map. Our guide to planning a commercial water shutoff shows how to label and zone the valves so a night manager can isolate a floor without shutting down the whole building. A preventive maintenance plan catches the corroded valve or aging supply line before it fails. And for what counts as a real emergency versus something that can wait for morning, see when to call an emergency plumber.

HQ offers 24/7 emergency service, is licensed and insured, and gives you the price up front before work starts.

If a restroom is what failed, read whether a business can stay open with its restrooms out of service before you decide.

For a backup that affects several tenants, see what a property manager does first.