Service station operator fined and convicted over gas fire

A Sydney service station operator has been fined $85,000 and convicted for failing to ensure the health and safety of the service station’s workers and putting other persons at risk after a dangerous gas fire broke out at the service station on 20 August 2012.

The incident occurred when a staff member was decanting liquid petroleum gas (LPG) from a large cylinder into a customer’s smaller cylinder. The LPG suddenly ignited, causing a significant fire and property damage.

No-one was injured in the fire.

At the time of the incident, four separate customer cylinders were connected to the larger decanting cylinders installed at the site. A single attendant was working in the filling area. The deadman’s handle on each of the four customer cylinders had been jammed opened with screwdrivers or lengths of metal wedged under the pivot end of the trigger.

Following a WorkCover investigation into the incident, the service station operator was charged under Section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 with breaches of section 19 (1) and (2) of the Act. The operator pleaded guilty to both charges.

WorkCover Executive Director Work Health and Safety Peter Dunphy said the incident was caused by the failure to follow the safety systems the service station operator had in place.

“The incident was clearly foreseeable, and indeed foreseen, as the director of the business had twice before sacked employees for overriding the deadman’s handle,” Dunphy said.

“In the worst-case scenario, the consequences of not following work health and safety procedures could have led to the death or serious injury of an employee or member of the public. There are simple steps to be followed to minimise the risk of fire and in previous cases the service station operators had been quite willing to apply these steps.”

WorkCover said the company has considerably improved its systems since the incident, including an upgraded security camera system which can monitor the filling process on-site or remotely from a digital device.

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