Article

Making strides as a team

Over the past 30-plus years, safety in the propane industry has made great progress.

For example, my first time fighting a fire and holding a hose in training was with a live tank. Since then, simulated training with safety controls has trained thousands of firefighters.

For the longest time, Archie Moore of Ranger Insurance had a traveling LP Gas Fire School, simulating fire training for emergency personnel and propane marketers. This is just one example of numerous National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) supplier members who have initiated founding steps to achieve safety goals.

Early efforts by the old NPGA Safety Committee, which became the Education, Training and Safety Committee, led the way to improving industry safety. Marketers, suppliers and manufacturers working hand in hand, inch by inch, docket by docket, helped make the industry safer.

When I first joined the NPGA Safety Committee in the early 1980s, I was quickly indoctrinated into the concept that there was no “I” in safety. Serving the industry as a team, “we” have been – and continue to be – a community of contributors to the benefit of all stakeholders in the safety process.
One such venerable pioneer and member of the Education, Training and Safety Committee, Al Stillwaggon of Weaver Gas Service, recently passed away. Al was a safety leader who will be missed for his generous contributions to universal industry safety.

The NPGA Education Committee was initially responsible for developing the Certified Employee Training Program, which has taught thousands of employees how to handle propane. The Gas Check Program was initiated out of the Gas Check Committee; those committees were later combined into the Education, Training and Safety Committee.

With the formation of the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) and the Safety & Training Advisory Committee (STAC) came another wave of significant safety strides for the propane industry. Even plaintiff’s attorneys admit that PERC funding and safety initiatives developed by STAC have been successful in making the industry safer.

Today, the NPGA Technology, Standards & Safety Committee, made up of marketers, suppliers and manufacturers, continues to help the industry achieve safe results.

The insurance industry has a longstanding track record of NPGA supplier membership, serving on committees, providing and sponsoring safety educational programs and materials. For decades, those insurance loss-control folks have been promoting propane safety, living in the trenches and holding marketers to underwriting standards designed to prevent accidents, reduce claims and lower insurance costs. In fact, insurance costs have been significantly lowered across the board due to those efforts.
Equipment supplier members such as Ray Murray Inc., Bergquist, Tarantin Tank, LPG NH3 and many others have been ongoing providers of training to facilitate safe use of the propane equipment they sell.

Manufacturers such as RegO, Fisher, Worthington Cylinders, Manchester Tank and others proudly maintain a record of safety support through NPGA membership, serving on committees and promoting the safe use of their products.

Truck fabricators such as Arrow Tank and Equipment, Lin’s Trucks, JARCO and many others have been consistent catalysts in their ongoing commitment to innovative safety design and the promotion of safe product transportation and delivery.

I don’t have room to recognize all industry members who have contributed to safety initiatives throughout the years. I just know that we as a team have made great safety progress.