The dispatcher wrote "out of gas" on the ticket. The driver filled the tank. Someone opened the valve. The water heater lit. Nobody wrote down a leak check.
That sequence is the trap. The restore step is a code step after an interruption of service, not a courtesy for an empty tank. A closed tank valve, a seasonal cabin, a repair, or a new customer can all be an interruption. An empty tank is only one way the gas was off.
We write the shop policies book and the fill-in transportation security plan. If you run the trucks, this page is for you.
What the fuel-gas code is actually saying
NFPA 54 is the National Fuel Gas Code. States adopt it. Your fire marshal's edition is the one that binds you, not the book the standards body is selling this year.
The Oklahoma LP-Gas Administration taught the 8.2.3 sentence in its 2024 safety school: immediately after gas is turned on into a new system, or into a system restored after an interruption of service, the piping shall be checked for leakage. If the check shows a leak, the gas stays off until the leak is fixed. Appliances stay off until that check is done. The American Gas Association's 2024 National Fuel Gas Code revisions file prints the same 8.2.3 family on a different domain.
Copy the sentence from the book your state adopted. Do not treat Oklahoma's slide as your state's law.
Two other states write it differently. That is the point.
Florida's LP-gas rule, 5J-20.044, is stricter in the paperwork. On an out-of-gas fill, a licensed dealer closes the container valves and physically checks appliances and outlets. If the customer is gone, the dealer leaves a written notice: company name and phone, work done, unsafe conditions, who to call to restore, and a warning against turning it back on without authorization. After an interruption of supply, Florida wants a leak test from Annex C of the fuel-gas code, as Florida incorporates it, and the result documented before the system goes back into service.
Florida also writes a minor-repair exception. If your people caused a short interruption for a small repair, stayed on site, and watched the system, Florida lets you skip that Annex C test and still leak-test the joint with a detector or a soap solution. That exception is Florida's rule. Do not write it as the model code.
Iowa writes the restore sentence into 661 IAC 226.5. Check right after gas is turned on into a new system or a system restored after an interruption. Tests shall not be made with a flame. If the customer is not present, Iowa's path is shut the service valve, tag it out of service, and tell the customer to call a qualified person for a leak check before anyone opens it. Iowa deleted two 2017-book LP-gas code sections, 6.16 and 6.17. Do not cite those section numbers as Iowa's restore rule. Iowa's restore lives in 226.5.
Iowa's chapter also cites NFPA 54 2015 in one sentence and 2018 in another. Ask the Iowa fire marshal which print to copy. Do not pick for them.
OSHA 1910.110 is workplace LP-gas storage and handling. It is not the house restore rule. Do not put it on the customer-tank ticket.
Do not invent a hold time in minutes or a psi number and call it 8.2.3. No primary we opened this week published those minutes as law.
What this is not
The Propane Education & Research Council tells the household what to do if they smell gas, and when to get the system inspected. See PERC's article Getting Your Propane System Inspected and the public safety pages on propane.com. That is customer warning language. It does not replace your shop restore procedure. It does not replace a transportation security plan.
A hazmat security plan is a different file. 49 CFR 172.800 and 49 CFR 172.802 cover the load on the highway: personnel security, unauthorized access, and en-route security. Confirm the current wording on the eCFR. A leak check at the house does not satisfy that plan. That plan does not satisfy the leak check.
People mash the three because they all live in binders. The shop policies book is how you actually restore a system. The security plan is the cargo. PERC's flyers are for the people at the house.
What to pull Monday morning
You do not need a consultant to start.
1. Open five recent out-of-gas or "valve was off" tickets. Can you see a leak check, a date, and a name. If the customer was gone, can you see the tag or the written notice.
2. Hand those five tickets to someone who did not write them. Ask them to find the restore step without calling the driver.
3. Write one line in the dispatch script: interruption of service includes a closed tank valve, not only an empty tank.
4. Put three folders on the table: policies and procedures, transportation security plan, customer warning flyers. If the leak-check page is missing from the shop book, that is the gap.
If those five tickets take more than a few minutes to explain, you already know the work.
Get the written shop book and the written security plan
Propane Safety Pro writes the policies and procedures manual and the fill-in DOT hazmat security plan from one intake form, built to how you actually run, print-ready. The leak-check restore steps belong in the shop book, with your state's adopted code year on the cover. The policies and procedures page is that book. The security plans page is the transportation document. How to choose propane safety manuals walks the rest of the catalog. There is no public price on this site.
Call 610-228-0887 and ask for the written program. We sell to people who run the trucks. We do not sell to homeowners.
This page is general information for propane marketers in the United States. It is not legal advice. Confirm the current code, your state's rules, and your insurer's list before you treat any example here as your requirement. Primary text: Oklahoma LP-Gas Administration 2024 safety school quoting NFPA 54 8.2.3; AGA 2024 NFGC revisions report; Fla. Admin. Code r. 5J-20.044; Iowa 661 IAC 226.5; 49 CFR 172.800 and 172.802 on the eCFR. Customer inspection language is PERC's, at propane.com.