KGC Committed to Eradicating Gas Accidents

To ensuring safety

Korea Gas Safety Corp. (KGC) President and CEO Park Hwan-kyu said his corporation is committed to eliminating the so-called developing country types of gas accidents, caused by factors including a lack of equipment and careless handling, in a bid to upgrade the nation’s safety to the standards of advanced countries.
Park delivered the remarks at the 17th Gas Safety Promotion Rally and the award-presenting ceremony of the Korea Gas Safety Awards at the Grand Inter-Continental Hotel in Seoul on June 10. Seventy-nine people, including Park Bong-joon, president of Daeyuk Can Co., and three organizations were awarded with orders, medals and other diverse prizes in recognition of their contribution to ensuring gas safety. Park has been credited with developing and supplying a counter-sink release vent, a device for preventing the explosion of butane gas stove cans. “We have been all out to build an advanced safety management system with government support by making the most of the technological knowhow we have accumulated through the experiences and lessons of past accidents.” “In particular, KGC declared the year 2009 as the first year of an accident-free campaign and devised diverse ways of reducing gas accidents, and despite economic hardships, we made a record high achievement ― a 31 percent reduction in the number of accidents over the previous year thanks to our companywide flat-out efforts.” By reducing accidents by 13.2 percent in the first five months of this year compared to the same period of last year, he said, KGC believes that the realization of an accident-free society is not unrealistic.
But Park cautioned that despite such a feat in reducing accidents, the reality is that Korea comes shy of its goal of elevating its gas safety to the standards of advanced countries. In particular, the so-called developing country types of accidents number 90 annually and they are on the rise, factors that could become stumbling blocks for ensuring gas safety equivalent to advanced countries.
In this context, he said, KGC advanced its business goal of reducing gas accidents by 50 percent by 2011 instead of 2015, and it is focusing on eliminating the so-called developing country type of accidents.
In accordance with the Action Plan 2010 for reducing accidents by 50 percent, established this past February, KGC is implementing 30 tasks for reducing the top 10 most frequent accidents. The corporation is expanding a program to provide free fixes of faulty gas installations for the underprivileged.
Kim Jung-kwan, deputy minister for energy at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, said in his commemorative speech, “Safety is not given, but it is attained through investments of time, efforts and costs, and the government is going all out to step up companies’ competitive edge by continuously overhauling irrational systems.”
Colin Bickell, chairman of the Australian Gas Association, said in his speech, “Korea Gas Safety Corporation is a leader in making gas-safety a focus for the betterment of the Korean nation. Gas safety has been our mission in Australia for almost 75 years, and I am very proud that our two organizations have committed to supporting each other in achieving this common goal. I’m pleased to mention the MOU between KGS and the Australian Gas Association last year by Park and myself, This MOU allows our nations to share our combined gas safety expertise and experiences, and ensures that Korean manufactures can supply safe and high quality gas appliances to the Australian market in the most efficient way.”
He continued, “The Australian Gas Association congratulates Park on this Gas Safety awards program and at a personal level, I sincerely thank the Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy and KGS for inviting me to this event. I congratulate all recipients of the wards for their great achievements in gas safety, and wish all of you a successful and enlightening gas safety event.” nw

Kim Jung-kwan, deputy minister for energy at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, gives a speech at the 17th Gas Safety Promotion Rally.

Korea Gas Safety Corp. President Park Hwan-kyu and other gas safety-related company and industry leaders pledge to ensure gas safety.