There have been five fatal incidents that resulted in seven fatalities.

A fatal incident which occurred in 2006/07 caused the death of a mother and her two children. It resulted from an escape of LPG from a two burner camping gas stove believed to have been left unattended for a brief time. Nearby combustibles caught fire which ultimately consumed the front portion of the house in Karrinyup. The three deceased were found in a bedroom unable to escape the fire.

A fatality which occurred in 2009/10 related to an explosion involving a gas cylinder where cylinder abuse was identified as the cause. The fatality was a result of medical complications relating to burns received from the explosion.

There was a fatality which occurred in 2012/13 due to LPG leaking from a mechanical bolted sleeved coupling on a gas main in the verge, near the residence at 282 Middleton Road, Centennial Park, Albany and permeated into the lower ground floor bedroom of the residence. The presence of LPG as a vapour cloud in the bedroom was ignited by an electrical source. The explosion and fire that followed proved fatal to a resident.

The fatality reported in 2013/14 involved a victim that was alleged to have been using LPG during the manufacture of an illegal substance. There was a fire and explosion in which the victim sustained burns and later succumbed to his injuries.

During 2014/15, a fatality occurred in a caravan fire where the person was trapped inside. The police found a gas cylinder inside the caravan that had a loose connection and was partially on. The cause of this fatal incident is still undetermined.

Figure 4

Fatalities and fatal incidents

Figure 4 shows that fatalities arising from gas incidents may impact more than one person in a single incident as is evident from the incident which occurred in 2006/07 involving a camping stove causing three fatalities.

For ease of comparison, the ‘Fatal Accident Frequency Rate’ is utilised to compare gas safety performance in a changing demographic population. This is also referred to as the fatalities per million population.

Table 1 below lists the FAFR over the reporting period and Figure 5 provides a graphical view of the number of fatalities per million population.

Table 1: Fatal Accident Frequency Rate

Figure 5

Fatalities per million population

Since the establishment of EnergySafety in 1994 there has been no gas related fatalities involving a gas worker which suggests that the safety of gas workers is generally maintained at a high level.