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

Byline: Muhammad Shahzad

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.

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...