The 6th Edition of the Gas Industry Unsafe Procedures has now been released and unlike previous versions copyright restrictions have been removed. The procedure provides essential guidance for competent gas installers on how to deal with Unsafe Situations, based on an assessed risk and the application of 'best practice'.
The release of the 6th edition of the Gas Industry Unsafe Procedures has a marked change from the previous editions in that the organisation releasing the document has decided not to seek any financial gain from the document. As the document is used by the majority of the gas industry to determine the category of risk for unsafe situations, it would seem a logical step that the document is made available for as many stake holders as possible, the document has been put together by the ‘industry’ for the industry’, and will now be available for us all without the obstacle of having to pay a fee every time the document changes.
Although we welcome the stance taken in making this document available and the lifting of copyright restrictions there is of course the same discussion point with this document as with the previous editions. When the Unsafe Procedures were originally put together many years ago they were designed purely to give an installer some guidance on how to categorise a situation. Of course many argue that there should only be two categories – its either safe or it isn’t! The reason for only providing guidance was that it was thought impossible to explain every situation that an installer may come across in a small publication.
The industry experts who put the documents together, and following consultation with the ‘industry’ decided on the category for each situation, were of course not at the scene of the incidents and more importantly it was not their name that was going on the job sheet. The installer at the place of work is the only one who can decide ‘in his professional opinion’ whether the situation is a perceived risk to safety. To that end the Gas Industry Unsafe Procedures provide guidance to determine the risk.
As publishers of technical documents we have always included a list of situations, again as guidance, and in all honesty have not always agreed with the category given with the official procedures. For some situations we have taken a ‘peace of mind’ stance and ‘upgraded’ the situation, based on the rationale of being able to sleep at night.
Unfortunately, the common sense approach of using theses procedures as a guide to determining the risk has not been helped by the current ACS scheme, where many questions on deciding the category of risk only have one right answer – the answer printed in the latest Unsafe Procedures. The situations and their classification have therefore become ‘tablets of stone’.
Possibly as a result of our training and employment in the industry during our formative years we were moulded on the ‘better to be talking to a solicitor than a coroner’ approach. If it means upgrading an AR to an ID, contrary to the listing given in the procedures – so be it. The important point is that an installer knows that the guidance procedure exists, has access to a copy, and can use his professional expertise to determine the level of risk and make the situation safe.
In conclusion, perhaps other organisations who provide ‘normative documents’ for the industry will follow the precedent set by the release of the Gas Industry Unsafe Procedures and provide their documents for free, where there is a perceived advantage to improving gas safety.
The 6th Edition of the Gas Industry Unsafe Procedures is available in the members area as a technical bulletin.
Keywords: Gas Industry Unsafe Procedures 6th Edition Assessed Risk Best Practice
