LP Gas, July 2014
A is for advocate Are you compromising safety for the sake of protecting gallon sales A s many of you know I have been monitoring a situation since last summer when a 500 gallon tank was up against the wall of a convenience store with the propane utilized to heat the building and fill cylinders It was an accident waiting to happen I referred to it in the August 2013 column Safety in your backyard describing the situation as follows There were serious housekeeping issues which included gasoline and kerosene tanks next to the propane tank along with debris plastic old batteries discarded 20 pound cylinders and a pile of bamboo fishing poles Then I noticed the 500 gallon tank against the wall of the store The cylinder filling cage thankfully contained a scale but it was unprotected and rusty There was one shutoff a ring on a cable to shut off the belly valve but it would be inaccessible in a problem situation To make matters worse there was a dumpster about 3 feet from the tank and you could see a big rust mark where the dumpster had been hitting the end of the tank Then I began to notice the traffic behind this store trucks pulling boats coming around the unprotected corner cars headed for parking spaces and kids on bikes What seemed to be a simple situation easily corrected became a cauldron of ignorance consternation and appeals for compromise The gas supplier essentially said the store owned tank was not its responsibility yet it continued to deliver to the situation The local volunteer fire authority gave the store a variance When the state fire marshals office got involved it too was pressured to compromise With all of that resistance it is nothing short of a miracle that I am able to report that the tank has been moved 10 feet from the building and is protected It only took one year for the store to act Columnist JAY JOHNSTON The hazard above was finally addressed Below is the result Continued on page 48 46 LPGas July 2014 www LPGasmagazine com
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