07:13 pm, Tuesday 15 January, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

A company has been charged over a gas explosion which killed a tradesman in December 2011.

The Darwin-based company could face fine of up to $650,000 once the Northern Territory Work Health Authority secures a conviction.

According to NT News, the company appeared in Darwin Magistrates Court on Monday and was charged with failing to identify risks to health or safety arising from their own conduct. The charge was laid under provisions of the Workplace Health and Safety Act.

The 24-year-old tradie was leaving for work when the accident happened outside his home in Parap. He died from serious injuries when his van exploded in a suspected gas leak.

Pressurised flammable gas cylinders were inside his van during the accident.

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11:10 am, Monday 12 December, 2011

A refrigeration mechanic died from serious injuries after a van exploded in a suspected gas leak in Melbourne’s south-east this morning.

The victim who was in his mid-20s was leaving for work when the accident happened outside his home at Stadium Circuit at Mulgrave.

Arson and explosives squad Detective Senior Constable Mick Cashman said that witnesses heard a hissing sound before the van exploded . The explosion was so massive that it threw the victim five metres away, blew in windows, and sent car parts flying into houses in the next street. The explosion was even heard as far away as Scoresby and Ferntree Gully. Police had established that the victim had not been in the van at the time of the explosion.

The Age reports that rescuers and paramedics arrived at the scene and found the victim lying unconsciously on the grass. They worked to stabilise him for more than one hour. He suffered from serious “blast-type” injuries to his head, chest and abdomen. He was brought to a hospital but died at around 10 in the morning.

According to Metropolitan Fire Brigade Commander Andrew O’Connell, a leak from one of the tanks containing flammable gas, which were stored at the back of a van, was most likely the cause of the explosion. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the leak and ignition source.

Commander O’Connell also said that 15 houses in the street have been damaged by the explosion. No other person was hurt from the accident.

WorkSafe will conduct its own investigation and will try to determine what caused the blast and how the gas tanks were stored inside the vehicle.

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10:28 pm, Sunday 2 October, 2011

Chemical company ORICA has admitted that it had been negligent in alerting the state authorities and the public as soon as one of its factories suffered a gas leak. The incident, which took place last August 8 in Stockton, threatened a residential neighbourhood as the leak supposedly emitted cancer-causing fumes.

The government, through its Environment Minister, had been blamed for not letting the public know of the spill and was accused of a cover up. But as The Sun-Herald conducted its independent report through a source from the government and drawing an admission from ORICA, the Environment Minister should now be clear of the accusations.

According to the investigations, ORICA took 16 hours to advise authorities of the hexavalent chromium spill. The chemical company also took 42 hours to tell health authorities that there were no longer any threats. The Environment Minister was made aware of this only after 46 hours, which meant that residents were not alerted to stay inside their houses a lot sooner, when the gas leak started.

The report will be taken up in the cabinet this week and it will also be made public.

The state government, meanwhile, is pushing for a tighter law on environmental breaches, saying that the laws on this are currently inadequate.

Laws on pollution licenses for companies are also apparently lax, according to the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, which proposed bigger penalties for breaches like this.

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