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Expert Panel Releases Propane Safety Recommendations In Wake Of Sunrise Blast

11/07/2008 | CityNews.ca Staff

The massive explosion that claimed two lives and displaced thousands at a Murray Road site on Aug. 10 has led to a provincial report on the state of propane safety.

Among the highlights inside the report's 40 recommendations are guidelines regarding the design of propane facilities, improved worker safety training and perhaps most importantly, the enforcement of existing safety laws.

The two-member panel, which consisted of experts on volatile fuels did not investigate the event or look to find fault, but did suggest license approvals for propane facilities make it clear that the operators must reassess the land development around them.

It also called for "a more rigorous, statistical approach" to safety, under which higher-risk facilities would get more in-depth attention.

The reaction at Queen's Park was immediate.

"I have asked the staff to look at these recommendations and tell me what recommendations require policy changes, what recommendations require direct changes and what recommendations require legislative changes," said Harinder Takhar, Ontario's Minister of Small Business and Consumer Affairs.

"Any step we take in how we handle propane in this province is a step in the right direction."

The report also suggests propane plants should be required to carry insurance as a condition of licensing. It's still not clear whether Sunrise Propane had any.

"The insurance needs to be adequate, it also has to be available for somebody like the city to use the policy to help pay for the cost of cleanup," said Toronto Mayor David Miller.

The Ministry plans to examine the recommendations over an 18-month period. Any that are implemented would be done with the help of the Technical Standards and Safety Administration.

Sunrise Propane employee Parminder Saini and Toronto firefighter Bob Leek died in the Aug. 10 blasts.

Hundreds of homes were damaged and some remain so. The city says its spent $2 million on cleanup efforts at the site.

Here are all 40 recommendations:

1. TSSA should continue to build on its existing risk-based enforcement model by introducing a more rigorous, statistical approach for propane safety.

2. TSSA should inspect facilities annually until it has gathered the required data, and has developed and is applying a comprehensive risk-based approach to regulation.

3. For the purposes of licensing a facility, the total capacity should include both fixed and transient storage, with the second element defined as the combined capacity of the maximum number of stored cylinders and tanks, and of tanker trucks and/or rail tank cars that might stay at the facility at any given time for longer than it takes them to complete a transfer.

4. A limit should be set on the maximum transient storage at a facility.

5. The facility operator should be required to designate the parking spaces for transient tanker truck storage at a facility.

6. Every facility at which transfer of propane takes place should have a risk and safety management plan as a condition of licensing.

7. Certification by a professional engineer should be required for all risk and safety management plans for facilities of more than 30,000 USWG in total capacity.

8. When reviewing an operator's risk and safety management plan, TSSA should verify that it includes all relevant requirements.

9. TSSA should continue to invest in the technology needed to improve the quality and value of data on the location of propane facilities and those handling other volatile fuels, with a specific goal of allowing these facilities and related defined hazard distances to be mapped using geographical information system (GIS) technology.

10. TSSA should make available to municipalities and planning boards the locations of facilities and the defined hazard distance around each, either as maps or, if the community prefers, GIS data.

11. TSSA should make publicly available sections of the risk and safety management plan dealing with emergency response for facilities of more than 30,000 USWG in total capacity.

12. As a condition of licensing, the operator should be required to review the risk and safety management plan on the same cycle as TSSA's inspection cycle. This review should assess whether land development within the defined hazard distance has increased the risks relating to the facility and the plan should be upgraded as required.

13. When a licence is first issued for a facility, the licence approval should state specifically that if land development around the facility changes so as to increase risk, it is the responsibility of the operator to reassess and, if necessary, upgrade special mitigation measures.

14. The Province should amend planning rules to require municipalities and local appeal bodies to notify facility operators of applications for official plan amendments, plans of subdivision, rezoning and minor variances where the facility's defined hazard distance extends into the area under consideration for change.

15. An application to TSSA for a licence for a new or expanded facility should not be considered complete until the fire service has received and approved all components of the risk and safety management plan that address fire safety, protection and emergency considerations.

16. Before commissioning a new or expanded facility, the proponent should be required to contact the local fire service for a walk-through with the aim of familiarization.

17. An application to TSSA for a licence for a new facility or an expansion should not be considered complete until the proponent receives and includes the comments of the relevant local planning authority.

18. Training requirements should be extended to include at least one officer, director or partner of every propane operator and licence holder.

19. Certificate holders should have to produce proof of their training on demand.

20. Certificate holders should receive site-specific training when starting work and after changing employers or facilities, and should be re-certified after being away from the job for a significant period of time.

21. Every person who works at a facility should be trained in the facility's emergency procedures.

22. The training curriculum for certificate holders should cover the consequences of incorrect handling, storage or transport of propane, including the impact of major fires and explosions. It should also cover emergency procedures.

23. TSSA should set a three-year review schedule for training providers and as part of this process the training provider should review the curriculum, update it if necessary and submit it to TSSA.

24. Trainers should be required to have hands-on, practical experience as well as theoretical knowledge of the subject areas they teach.

25. The Office of the Fire Marshal should enhance its training for fire department personnel in the areas of prevention, mitigation and suppression of propane explosions and fires.

26. Propane facility inspectors should be trained in all aspects of propane safety, including how to recognize and respond to imminent hazards.

27. TSSA, Office of the Fire Marshal, industry and others with an interest in the industry's safety should work together on a public safety and awareness program.

28. As part of the code adoption process or if considering changes to other regulatory instruments, TSSA should consult with the Office of the Fire Marshal and Ontario municipalities.

29. There should be formal agreements in place so that such authorities as the Province's Office of the Fire Marshal, Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, Ministry of Labour, and TSSA share information, findings and any recommendations with all parties with an interest in propane safety.

30. TSSA and provincial, municipal and other investigative authorities should create a cross-jurisdictional incident database, aggregating information on causes of incidents, lessons learned, and recommended preventative steps.

31. Propane operators should be required to carry insurance as a condition of licensing.

32. When there is an imminent hazard to safety, and the facility operator will not or cannot act to correct it, TSSA inspectors should have the full and clear authority to ensure that the installation is made safe and to charge back the costs to the operator.

33. Operators should be required to keep records to demonstrate on-going maintenance and operational testing of fire safety equipment and systems.

34. Fire services should have clear authority to enter licensed propane facilities for familiarization purposes and/or to verify proper maintenance of fire protection equipment.

35. In light of these recommendations, TSSA should review its current code adoption document, directors' orders and branch standards, with a view to updating these as necessary.

36. The Ministry should consider approaches similar to those recommended here for propane for all liquid and gaseous fuels in use in the province to ensure that they also are covered by a best-practices regulatory framework.

37. The Ministry should review the progress of adoption and implementation of these recommendations within 18 months and report to the public, including the members of the Propane Safety Review.

38. Once recommendations have been implemented, the Ministry and TSSA should review their impacts on a periodic basis with a view to making any further changes, if necessary, to improve propane safety and should inform the public, including the members of the Propane Safety Review.

39. The Minister should ask Transport Canada to examine the potential benefits to public safety of thermal protection requirements for highway tank trucks similar to those for railway tank cars and regulations for safe parking of tank trucks, including such factors as setback and security.

40. The Minister should ask the Canadian Standards Association to review and update the relevant sections of the propane installation code (B149.2 and B149.5) with a focus on setback distances, categories of installation, emergency response plans, maintenance, and special fire protection and to ensure the code aligns with international best practices.

For a copy of the Propane Safety Review Report, click here.

Photo Credit: CityNews viewer James Hamilton

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