Little General Store Propane Explosion - US Chemical Safety and ...

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Little General Store September 2008 10. The junior propane service technician who was servicing to the tank on the day of the incident had no formal training and did not recognize the defect in the withdrawal valve. He was also working alone even though he had been on the job for only one and a half months. 11. Propane service technicians commonly do not receive emergency response training. 12. The propane industry’s primary training curriculum (the Certified Employee Training Program) consists of procedures and materials for performing routine (non-emergency) tasks only. 13. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s and National Fire Protection Association’s propane standards require training but do not include curricula, practical exercises, emergency actions, or knowledge evaluation tools. 14. A propane emergency significant enough for fire department response is reported nearly everyday in the United States. Only gasoline and natural gas are involved in more hazardous materials emergencies. 15. 911 operators in the United States lack propane emergency guidance to help them collect important information from callers, offer life-saving advice, and convey relevant information to first responders. 16. Minimal information on the nature of the incident was exchanged between the propane service technician and the 911 operator. Therefore, the only information the 911 operator provided the Ghent Volunteer Fire Department responders was the incident location and the “report of a propane leak.” 17. Firefighters in West Virginia are required to attend a minimum of four hours of hazardous materials emergency response training as part of their initial training sequence but refresher training is not required. The responding Ghent Volunteer Fire Department captain last attended a hazardous materials response course in 1998. 18. Propane safety and emergency training is voluntary for fire department personnel in West Virginia. None of the responders from the Ghent Volunteer Fire Department had specific training relating to propane emergencies. 52
Little General Store September 2008 8.0 Causes 1. The Ferrellgas inspection and audit program did not identify the tank location as a hazard. Consequently, the tank remained against the building for more than 10 years. 2. Appalachian Heating did not formally train the junior technician, and on the day of the incident he was working alone. 3. Emergency responders were not trained to recognize the need for immediate evacuation during liquid propane releases. 53
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