Failures revealed with ferry gas leak
An electrician had to be ‘‘coached through’’ identifying and isolating a gas leak on a Cook Strait ferry, says an investigation which discovered a trail of systemic training and emergency planning failures.
The workplace safety regulator WorkSafe found that ‘‘there appears to be a systemic failure’’ from the major power company Genesis Energy in transporting highly flammable LPG.
It identified poor training and poor emergency planning, and said Genesis was using workers who were not properly trained or supervised to fill the LPG tanks.
Genesis told RNZ it did a comprehensive safety review, had made improvements and was able to transport LPG safely at all times.
The leak was smelled by crew on a night sailing of the ferry Aratere on January 24 last year.
The deck’s 16 detectors, which are less sensitive than the human nose, were not set off and crew could not find the source.
But once they got the transportable container off at Picton, they heard ‘‘a hissing sound ... from behind a metal plate locked into place covering the valves’’ on a 25,000-litre container, WorkSafe’s report said.
Though the leak itself turned out to be minor, the impact was not: The port was evacuated, ferry services put off, and there was huge disruption to the town.
Investigators found the valve was faulty and may have been damaged by ‘‘constant overtightening’’ or wrong use of tools.
All the tanks were meant to be checked for leaks after filling – but the workers were not supervised much, if at all, the report said. They worked with a haulage company subcontracted by Genesis.
‘‘Training records provided by Genesis indicate that these operators have not received adequate training with operation of valves on the transportable containers.’’ The gas comes from Taranaki wells, and the filling station is in New Plymouth.
The report said the filling station itself wasn’t being run properly, and Genesis’ emergency response plan was ‘‘out of date’’ and untested. Furthermore, the LPG tanks parked for filling were near a diesel generator, a potential ignition source.
It took almost four hours from when the leak was pinpointed in Picton until it was shut down just before 10am. At 7am Genesis told Fire and Emergency it would send a technician from Christchurch. But FENZ said the five hours it would take to drive was ‘‘not acceptable’’, and they would chopper the technician up if need be. Instead, Genesis called in an electrician from Blenheim.
‘‘The Blenheim electrician had been trained for working in hazardous areas, but had no direct training on how to operate a transportable container, and was ‘coached through’ identifying and isolating the leak.’’
This was one of four breaches of safety regulations. However, WorkSafe said the risk was ‘‘relatively minor’’ and no harm occurred to any worker.
Genesis issued a short statement to RNZ, saying there was ‘‘low risk to public safety’’.
‘‘Genesis takes safety seriously, utilising industry leading safety frameworks and governance processes to ensure that we are able to transport LPG gas safely at all times, that we have robust training and emergency protocols, and continuously identify areas for enhancement.
‘‘Genesis and its partners worked closely with WorkSafe and Fire and Emergency NZ during their review and in regards to improvements that have been made since.’’
– RNZ