Gas incidents recorded in WA

There were 817 gas related incidents reported from 2004/05 to 2013/14. The number of reported incidents per million population has been represented in Figure 2 below. The most number of incidents were reported in 2004/05 and although there has been a variation in the numbers reported the overall trend has been declining at a steady rate indicating a positive outlook for gas safety.

Figure 2

Number of WA gas related incidents per million population

Approximately 76% of the incidents occurred in a metropolitan area, which may also be indicative of the concentration of population utilising gas.

In 2013/14 there were 32 gas incidents per million people. Seven incidents per million people resulted in a form of injury. A large number of incidents did not result in any injury.
 
All the incidents recorded can be broadly classified into gas utilisation and supply incidents. 74% of all incidents in the reported period were related to gas utilisation. The high number of reported gas utilisation incidents may be due to the legislative requirement to report gas incidents.

For supply incidents, there is a requirement to report incidents which have a major discharge of gas. Figure 3 below provides information on the number of incidents reported to EnergySafety each year.

Figure 3

Number of incidents by gas utilisation and supply