MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Mailing a smelly brochure for safety’s sake

Sep 4, 2013, 9:41 AM | Updated: 9:59 am

This is no perfume ad. A flier coming in the mail will have the distinctive smell of rotten eggs.

Puget Sound Energy is mailing out a scratch-and-sniff pamphlet in billing statements to remind customers about the unpleasant smell added to natural gas as a safety measure.

To activate the smell, scratch the icon of a flame in the center of the pamphlet.

“Give your nose a reminder of what that smells like, because it’s something we don’t smell very often and if you do detect natural gas, in or outside your home, go ahead and get out of there and make a call to PSE or 911 so that we can figure out if you do have a problem at your residence,” advised utility spokesman Ray Lane.

The pamphlet is going out to about 1.5 million customers through October as a safety reminder so that families can recognize a potentially-dangerous natural gas leak.

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Mailing a smelly brochure for safety’s sake