The Australian Government today welcomed the release of the Gas Technical Regulators Committee’s draft Gas Appliance Safety Strategy which is a first step towards identifying ways to make gas appliances safer.
The draft strategy explores a range of options to mitigate the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in homes and vehicles.
The combination of poor ventilation and reversed flow from flued gas appliances can lead to poisonous concentrations of carbon monoxide that in cases of prolonged exposure can be fatal.
Federal, state and territory governments have come together through the Ministerial Council on Energy to identify the best ways to mitigate this risk.
The Ministerial Council on Energy tasked the Gas Technical Regulators Committee with developing a strategy and assessing options for minimising the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning including by promoting greater awareness of the hazard, inspecting gas appliances, examining the effectiveness of carbon monoxide detectors and amending building standards to mitigate risks.
The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, and chair of the Ministerial Council on Energy, thanked the Gas Technical Regulators Committee for its independent analysis and encouraged interested parties to comment on the strategy.
“We need to bring together all the available expertise to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning,” Minister Ferguson said.
“The Gas Technical Regulators Committee is using the latest engineering, scientific and safety principles to develop its strategy and are drawing on the lessons learned from overseas.
“Now the Government is seeking feedback from the community on the draft strategy to address what is an important safety issue.”
The draft strategy and information on how to make a submission is available on the Ministerial Council on Energy website at www.mce.gov.au.
Submissions on the draft strategy will be considered by the Gas Technical Regulators Committee when developing its final strategy later this year.