Adjust your actions to affect propane safety

Once again we close the old year and ring in the new.

It has been my personal experience over the past 59 years that you can’t change the past, and regret is a wasted emotion. That said, we can learn from the past and adjust our actions and inactions to affect change.

How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the bulb has to want to change. And so it is with you and me, my friends – to affect change we have to want it.

When I was 25 years old, my insurance-agent father told me to get rid of my charcoal Webber and promptly delivered a propane grill in a box. He said, “We insure propane dealers and we cook on propane.”

Never having put a grill together, I did my best, thought I had tightened everything and was on my way to charcoal-free cooking. I lit the grill and went inside the house for the hot dogs. Imagine my surprise when I came out to find the hose burned off at the tank and a jet of flame coming out of the 20-pound cylinder.

After a few seconds of panic, I evaluated my options. I could call the fire department, but would it get there in time? Then I remembered the slide shows (before video) for our propane clients where firemen were holding streams of water on a tank as they walked in and turned off the valve.

I ran into the house and grabbed an oven mitt, then grabbed the hose. I held the water on the flame and walked in to turn off the valve. It worked. My heart was in my throat, and I had developed a firsthand experience in dealing with a propane emergency. Since that experience, I have donned a fire suit and walked into at least 10 simulated live training situations. My heart still goes to my throat every time I feel the powerful roar of a simulated burn.

Over the years, I have had many propane experiences that changed the way I think about propane.

In the early 1980s, I purchased a specialty Ford Granada that ran only on propane. For two years, I pumped my own gas at customer key stop locations. That spitter valve sprayed a lot of vapor on my overcoat, and I had to learn that was a good thing in properly filling the fuel tank. Because I officed downtown in a parking garage and my stall was underground, I would turn the tank off. Some might say that was a needless precaution, but I did it out of respect for all stakeholders involved.

As an insurance agent specializing in propane marketers over the past 35 years, I have been involved with about every propane-related accident and allegation of wrongdoing. I learned from each experience and continue to learn from each experience every day.

Most insurance agents and some propane companies file those experiences under the phrase “stuff happens.” However, I choose to be actively involved in accident prevention and safety education in the propane industry. I continually go for rides with drivers and service techs to experience “the real world” when it comes to day-to-day propane delivery and service exposures. I have evaluated hundreds of marketer loss runs to look for patterns and weak links. I continuously challenge management to inspect what they expect to achieve compliance and profitable results. You can’t change the past, but you can shape the future.

Every week, I chase articles on propane accidents to determine probable cause and explore safety solutions. I usually will share those conclusions and observations in this column and in my monthly newsletter to marketers.

My answer to critics who suggest those who can “do” and those who can’t “teach” – I do both. While it has never been my goal to be a driver or service tech in the propane industry, it is my unabashed goal to teach, train and sell propane safety to all who are open to change. If you want to achieve safe and profitable results in the industry, you must want to change.

I would like to challenge you to learn from the past and adjust your actions accordingly when it comes to respecting the importance of propane safety. Let’s all work together to make the new year a safe one.