Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder delivery men have urged the State-run oil companies to conduct in-plant training programmes for them at bottling plants. The programmes can help them and mechanics deal with emergencies, including leaks in cylinders.
“A couple of weeks ago, a delivery boy with 10 years of experience got injured in a fire when he was trying to fix a leaking cylinder in Tirunelveli district. We are not saying he did not know the job, it could have been an error of judgment. Regular training at the plant could have helped him avoid it,” said Shanmugam, a delivery person from Tiruchi.
Most times customers call delivery personnel in case of leaks since they are the first point of contact when it comes to cylinders. “If the mechanic is not available, the delivery boy will have to go since he has to face the customer again,” said Ganesan of the Tamil Nadu Gas Delivery Boys Association.
A long-time distributor said earlier oil companies used to hold regular training programmes for delivery boys and mechanics.
“Nowadays the companies only bother about cylinder deliveries on time. It seems as though consumer safety has taken a back seat. Sometimes, we get more damaged pins and rings in cylinders delivered from refill bottling plants, but they do not give proper responses. If they do proper quality checks, leaks would be less frequent,” he said.
Another distributor said companies did not even give them enough spare O-rings and pins to replace damaged ones.
“They don't allow us to buy them in the open market, which is a problem when it comes to attending leaks,” he said.
Oil industry insiders said that in-plant training was being conducted only by certain plants and that too because of the interest taken by few individual officials.
Oil company officials, however, said that such training programmes were being held on a regular basis.
