Registration system for commercial gas installers following Killarney explosion

Gas installers working in the commercial sector will have to be registered under new safety guidelines with specific rules for catering premises and laundries.

Registration system for commercial gas installers following Killarney explosion

The move, by the Commission for Energy Regulation, comes after a major gas explosion in a Killarney town centre laundrette in July 2013. A small number of other safety incidents have also occurred in the “non-domestic” sector, influencing its decision to extend the regulatory scheme, the CER has said.

Large gas cylinders are commonly used in laundries to power driers.

The owner of the Killarney laundrette, 59-year-old James Gleeson, a married father of one, lost his life when the two-storey laundry building at Brewery Lane was demolished and huge damage caused to nearby hotels and shops following the blast.

The inquest into Mr Gleeson’s death found explosion was due to the escape and build up, probably overnight, of propane gas in an enclosed rear area of the laundrette, according to documents which have now been released under the Freedom of Information Act by the Health and Safety Authority.

It found the storage of the gas cylinders in a single-storey rear room, an enclosed area with poor ventilation, was unsafe and in breach of regulations.

Nine large (47kg capacity ) propane gas cylinders were in the enclosed area on the premises at the time, and the leak was probably from one or more of the six tanks that were connected to the laundrette gas installation.

A fireman at the scene on the morning of July 13, 2013, smelt gas and heard a hissing sound which stopped when he closed a valve on one of the cylinders.

Three other gas cylinders, delivered just the previous day, were found to be full and not the source of the explosion.

Investigators found some of the connection equipment were several years old.

It is currently an offence under the Electricity Regulation Act 1999, for an individual who is not registered as a gas installer under CER regulations to carry out gas works in the home.

However, current regulations do not require gas installers in the commercial sector to be registered on the list of Registered Gas Installers of Ireland.

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