PES to organise fire safety training for 5,000 LPG dealers

No shopkeeper to be allowed to keep filled cylinders open outside shops

LAHORE: The Punjab Emergency Service (PES) is organising safety audit and fire safety training of LPG facilities in collaboration with LPG Industries Association of Pakistan.

In this regard, LPG Industries Association of Pakistan Chairperson Irfan Khokhar conducted a meeting with Rescue 1122 Community Safety and Information Head Deeba Shahnaz Akhter and Public Relations Officer (PRO) Farooq Ahmad at Rescue 1122 headquarters. The parties decided to chalk out a plan to train over 5,000 LPG dealers in the provincial metropolis.

The service in other parts of the province was already going on through the process, said the information wing head. She shared with The Express Tribune that the chairperson had written to authorities concerned and also to Rescue 1122 for the purpose.

Disaster in the making: The sordid tale of Karachi Fire Brigade

Taking a proactive measure, she wrote a letter to all district emergency officers (DEO) last month. The letter asked DEOs to conduct safety audits of all LPG facilities in their respective districts to identify the hazards and associated risks and existing safety measures. It also asked for the capacity-building of LPG distributors and marketing companies and consumers to minimise LPG related incidents.

The information wing head also requested the DEOs, through the letter, to issue training certificates on the successful completion of training to display the certificate at their sale point. The letter added to launch a media campaign in collaboration with the association.

She added that enforcement was the essence as it was the biggest hurdle in the way forward regarding the insurance of safety.

The chairperson said the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) rules made it mandatory for going through such training. “According to the rules, no one except LPG distributors and their authorised sub-distributors are allowed to do LPG business.”

He added that it was clearly mentioned in the rules that it was the responsibility of the owner of every shop to make sure that he and all of his crew know that the fire extinguishers are not running. He further said that in this regard, they had conducted meetings with the authorities concerned and reached a consensus on the regulations mechanism. “The official orders will be issued soon.”

He maintained that the above mentioned training and subsequent certificate from the government service was part of it. “The other mandatory guidelines to be followed included no one except certified dealer and sub-dealer will be allowed for dealing in the business.”

He explained that it asked for possession of the marketing company's original distributor certificate and distributor's authorisation must have the original distributor's permit, which is the authorised letter for authorised distributor in the name of sub-distributor. “It discouraged the use of vacuum at any LPG sale point. Vacuum and non-standard cylinders have been used to cause shop accidents in the past.”

Purchase or sale of non-standard cylinders other than manufactured LPG cylinders by four OGRA licenced factories is not permitted, he clarified. “No LPG business is allowed near restaurants, ovens, schools, colleges, mosques, churches, wedding halls, hospitals, welding shops or wood tile.”

There are chances that fire can burn in the basement, sidewalk, wood, iron hollow or roadside, he stated.

70 factories sealed for lack of fire safety measures

No outlets are allowed to operate in the street area which is less than 20 feet wide, it asked for. “Persons under the age of 18 are not allowed to work on LPG distribution, sale points and warehouse.”

All outlets or sale points will have at least two fire extinguishers equipped with two double buckets of sand and two buckets of water. In the case of any outlets or sale points, there will be no electrical connection that can ignite or cause flames and the petrol engine can also ignite, thus leaving the shields covered.’

No shopkeeper shall be allowed to keep the filled cylinders open outside the shop, not the filled cylinders on top of each other. Keep the protective cylinders in such a way that they can easily be transported to the open area. More than 20 cylinders can be stored in 11 shops. Strict lawsuit will be taken against the offending retailer. The training workshop will consider and cover all these angles.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2019.