The LPG Marketing Companies Association of Ghana, has hit back at claims that the Liquefied Petroleum Gas refill points across the country pose a threat to the safety of Ghanaians who patronize them.
Pressure Group, Occupy Ghana, called for the temporary closure of all on-site dispensing of LPG which must be sustained at least until the appropriate state agencies enforce rules that guarantee the safety of gas companies’ operations.
[contextly_sidebar id=”WkbwmWHOtvy4PBgmiYlHa55ABmIxtpw0″]Their call comes in the wake of the multiple gas explosions that rocked the Atomic Junction on Saturday, killing seven people and injuring about 132 others.
However, in an interview with Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of the Association, Kwame Owiredu, dismissed these assertions, stating that their outlets across the country had put safety measures in place to ensure such incidents do not occur.
He attributed Saturday’s incident to a failure by the attendants at the gas station to use the electric discharge pumps which had been put in place for the dispensing of gas into the Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs).
“We have, on our own as part of the safety standards created what we call the electric discharge pumps. So at most of our outlets, the Bulk Road Vehicle (BRV) trucks do not discharge gas using their own engines,” he said.
“There are electric discharge pumps where when the BRV comes, the pumps are fitted onto them and the discharge is done. It’s quite unfortunate that our outlet at the explosion site wasn’t using that particular discharge pump at the time of the explosion. On issues of safety, in respect of the discharge of the BRV, we have directed our members to use the electric pump system. If you visit any of our outlets, that’s the system that they are using, most of them are using it” he explained.
In a statement copied to citifmonline.com, OccupyGhana, quoting citifmonline.com, lamented that there had been 8 major gas explosions in the country within four years, adding that regulators needed to “produce a permanent solution to this issue.”
“OccupyGhana® would recommend the banning of all on-site dispensing of gas. We side with the decision of the National Petroleum Authority to regulate the downstream gas distribution by phasing out refilling of LPG gas at LPG dispensing stations. Thus, instead of having LPG dispensing outlets, all gas cylinders will be filled by cylinder bottling plants for onward distribution to retail outlets,” it said.
But the LPG Marketers Association believes that despite the “unfortunate” incident at Atomic Junction, it would be unfair to conclude that all the outlets are accidents waiting to happen.
“It’s not the case that every LPG outlet is an explosion in waiting or is a deathtrap for Ghanaians,” he added.
“We do admit that the explosion on Saturday was an unfortunate situation, but it doesn’t make every outlet or LPG dispensing point a death trap, it cannot be the case. You don’t stop one from using a system which you criticize and use it just on a different platform.”
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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana