Danger seen in demonstration of L.P.G. safety

Press, 19 May 1981, Page 24

Danger seen in demonstration of L.P.G. safety

PA Auckland Demonstrations of the safety properties of. liquefied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas are in fact dangerous to everyone concerned, says a Massey University safety lecturer,. , Mr D. M. Hay. He has called for an end to the practice of leading observers through clouds of L.P.G. In some circumstances, the simple act of taking off a sweater or jacket could create enough static electricity to ignite the cloud, he said. The consequences . would be disastrous. ’“I appeal to those respon- . sible for demonstrating the

properties of L.P.G. and C.N.G. to devise demonstrations which are less hazardous and more meaningful to the observers,” Mr Hay said. Demonstrators seememd not to understand that naked flames and other obvious sources of ignition were not the only dangers. There could easily be enough static electricity in a cloud of L.P.G. released from a pipe to make it self-ignite, even though precautions were commonly taken against this. What was not understood, he said, was that wearing many layers of wool or nylon clothing generated static electricity. • A.

In a . warm enclosure - where the humidity was low,; simply taking off an outer ' . layer could produce more - than 12 times the electricity. required to ignite the L.P.GAcloud. It also appeared to be poorly understood that L.P.G. clouds could linger for hours in windless conditions. ■. i. Mr Hay said that he could understand why authorities . were eager to demonstrate the safety of L.P.G., but the experiments were meaningless. Handled correctly, both L.P.G. and C.N.G. were safe, : he said, but nothing was proved by pointless demonstrations •- which could be ■downright dangerous. ?