What is gas business? Safety provisions applied to gas business facilities in Vietnam

What is gas business? Safety provisions applied to gas business facilities in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What are the types of gas?

Gas refers to:

- Liquefied petroleum gas (hereinafter referred to as “LPG”) means a mixture of hydrocarbon gases derived from petroleum containing two major compositions called propane (C3H8) or butane (C4H10) or the mixture of both propane and butane. At the normal temperature and pressure, LPG presents in a vapor form but may turn into liquid at a limited temperature and pressure.

- Liquefied natural gas (hereinafter referred to as “LNG”) means a liquid hydrocarbon product derived from natural gases, mainly containing methane (CH4) and presents in a vapor form at the normal temperature and pressure but may turn into liquid at a limited temperature and pressure.

- Compressed natural gas (hereinafter referred to as “CNG”) means a vapor hydrocarbon product made by compressing natural gases at a high pressure (from 200 to 250 bar) that mainly contains methane (CH4 ).

(Clause 1, 2, 3, 4, Article 3 of Decree 87/2018/ND-CP)

2. What is gas business?

Gas business means the continual performance of at least one of the following activities; gas producing, processing, export, import, trading, filling, distribution; gases for temporary import for re-export; lease of tanks or bottles, bottled LPG warehouse, wharves; delivery or transport of gases for the purpose of making profits.

(Clause 5, Article 3 of Decree 87/2018/ND-CP)

3. General safety provisions applied to gas business facilities in Vietnam

- Gas producers, processors, importers, exporters, sellers or purchasers; traders producing and repairing LPG bottles or mini-sized LPG bottles; filling stations, distribution stations and compressing stations; traders leasing tanks, bottled LPG warehouse and means of transport must develop a safe management program and send a report of risk assessment as well as plans for dealing with emergency events to competent authorities for approval.

For the case in which the gas business facility includes producing and processing premises, ports for import and export, a filling station adjacent to a distribution station owned by a single person, the safe management program, risk assessment report and plans for dealing with emergency events shall be applied to the whole facility.

- Facilities prescribed in clause 1 in Article 47 of Decree 87/2018/ND-CP must annually practices the methods presented in the approved plan for dealing with emergency events.

- Every facility must issue all procedures for operation, procedures for solving problems and safety regulations approved by the head of such facility.

- All machines and equipments strictly subject to labor safety requirement must undergo an inspection of labor safety technique as regulated.

- Instruments and equipments used for measurement must be inspected and calibrated in accordance with provisions of the law on measurement.

- There must be a safe distance between the equipment, construction works and barriers of facilities or protected places as regulated.

- Regulations on fire preventing and fire extinguishing in accordance with provisions of laws must be satisfied.

- People engaged in the management works, employees working at the gas business facility including the drivers of vehicles used for gas transport must be trained in safe techniques.

- Annually, every gas business facility must self-offer or hire other organization to offer a training course in labor safety techniques for its employees.

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam shall decide the training program and content of safety technique course in gas business.

- The Department of Industry and Tradeof Vietnam shall check the training in safety techniques of gas business facilities.

(Article 47 of Decree 87/2018/ND-CP)

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