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The Bill improves on these arrangements by putting a statutory obligation on owners to ensure that their installations are maintained and operated safely and that they are inspected periodically by a competent person.
This will ensure that the owner does not wait until the Gas Authority's inspector points out faults before performing maintenance work.
A spokesman for the Gas Standards Office of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department said: "The Gas Authority will specify how often owners should arrange for a competent person to inspect different types of installations, examine the inspection findings and issue improvement notices when necessary.
"The proposals will not only improve the safety of gas installations but also give the Department stronger powers to deal with any installation deemed to be unsafe.
"The Bill will enable the Gas Authority to effect remedial work himself if necessary or decommission the installation until it is made safe."
The spokesman stressed that "the overall safety level of gas installations is good" and decommissioning of an installation by the Department would only happen "in unusual or extreme cases".
The Bill provides that expenses incurred by the Gas Authority in doing remedial work on an installation or decommissioning it will be recoverable from the person concerned as a civil debt due to the Government.
The proposals in the Bill will apply equally to fuel gas installations owned by registered gas supply companies, the Government and numerous institutional, commercial and industrial private sector establishments such as schools, power companies, private housing developments, restaurants and factories.
The Bill also amends the Gas Safety (Gas Supply) Regulations to enable the Gas Authority to prohibit disposable liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) containers which have no valve to automatically close off the gas when the container is disconnected from a gas appliance. These containers are the sort used with camping stoves.
The spokesman said: "Experience has shown that accidents with disposable LPG containers without a closing off valve often result in the user sustaining burns.'
"As the market will be adequately supplied with camping gas containers equipped with a closing off valve, we intend to prohibit the supply of those without a valve, in the interests of public safety," he said.