BSTI to formulate 17 safety standards to avoid gas cooking accidents

Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), the national standards setting and regulatory body, is going to formulate 17 safety standards to prevent accidents in gas cooking used in households. BSTI Director General (Grade-1) S M Ferdous Alam gave this information as the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony of a day-long workshop titled `Safety Standards for Domestic Gas Cooking Appliances` held in the capital on Tuesday, says a press release.

Country Director of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Hoe Yun Jeong and Director (Planning) of Petrobangla Abdul Mannan Patwary were present as special guests at the event, jointly organised by BSTI, Petrobangla and Asian Development Bank (ADB). BSTI Director (Management) Md. Saidul Islam delivered the welcome speech at the event.

Citing various gas leakage-related tragic accidents including the death of a 32-year-old woman, Ruma and her husband in Mirpur due to gas cooking at the end of last year, the BSTI Director General said a major reason for accidents in household gas cooking was the lack of awareness about safety cooking appliances.

Although it was late but BSTI was going to formulate such safety standards, he added.

Initiatives were taken to formulate these standards in line with international standards. The standards have already been approved by BSTI's technical committee. After approval by the higher committee (Divisional Committee), BSTI will work on the obligation to implement it. He said that if the mentioned safety standard was implemented, it would be possible to prevent such tragic accidents.

BSTI Deputy Director (Engineering) Md. Mursalin Mahfuz presented the keynote paper in the technical session. Senior Assistant Director of Walton Hi-Tech Industries Abdur Rahim, Managing Director of JMI LPG Engineer Liaquat Ali and other experts from various government and private organisations were also present.