Gas supply firms must take responsibility and bear the costs of improved protection measures by installing safety shutoff valves and microcomputer gas meters for household users, the Consumers’ Foundation said on Thursday following a leak that caused blazes in Hsinchu County last month.
Officials said the June 24 incident was due to damage to a control valve at a supply terminal in Jhubei City (竹北), leading to excess flow of gas, as the normal gas pressure of 200mm of water gauge spiked to about 1,000mm of water gauge within a few minutes.
When household users turned on a gas stove or water heater, the excess pressure burst open the control valve and resulted in leaks that caused fires at several apartment buildings in Jhubei.
Photo courtesy of a reader
Seven people sustained injuries and a teenager is fighting for their life after suffering severe burns, officials said.
The foundation in a statement said that Hsinchu Gas Co, which is owned by the Hsinchu County Government, urgently needs to enhance safety measures for household users, with the priority to install safety shutoff valves that cut off the flow of gas when the pressure is too high.
The valves cost NT$350 to NT$400 each, the statement said.
“It is not too expensive and lasts for more than five years, protecting the lives and property of household users. It also benefits the gas company as it reduces leaks, helping the firm avoid the high costs of financial compensation for people hurt in gas explosions,” the foundation said.
The foundation urged the nation’s gas firms to foot the bill and install safety shutoff valves for all customers.
The foundation also urged the firms to install new microcomputer gas meters, which cost more than traditional gas meters, but are safer.
Currently customers must apply for a new meter and pay the installation and replacement fees themselves, so not every customer is willing to upgrade, it said.
“It is unreasonable for gas firms, who are making profits, to transfer the cost burden of installing new meters to its customers,” the foundation said.
The foundation said that gas explosions result in serious injuries and fatalities, as well as damage to public and private properties.
“Therefore gas firms should make more regular inspections to check all pipelines, control valves and switches. Also authorities should make regular safety inspections, and also unannounced inspections, at all gas depots,” it said.
The foundation said that people should ensure they are using gas devices which conform to safety standards, and install safety shutoff valves and a new microcomputer gas meter.
If there is a smell of gas in the household, the foundation urged people not to turn on any electrical appliances and immediately open windows and doors to provide ventilation, then turn off the gas and arrange a safety check.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS