Industry Standard Update 116

IGEM/GL/8 – Notification, investigation and reporting of gas-related incidents 
Date issued: 8 March 2023

This Industry Standard Update provides an overview of the recently published revised Industry Standard IGEM/GL/8 – Notification, investigation and reporting of gas-related incidents, which was published during December 2022.

 Introduction
During December 2022, IGEM published a revision to IGEM/GL/8 Edition 3(1). IGEM/GL/8(2) Edition 4 (Communication 1869) supersedes IGEM/GL/8 Edition 3 (Communication 1776), which is now obsolete. The revision to this standard comes into effect immediately.

To allow registered businesses time to carry out internal update training to reflect the technical requirements of the amended standard, Gas Safe Register will inspect to the new requirements of the standard from 1 June 2023. However, this should not restrict businesses from applying the specification sooner.

The following is a brief overview of the amendments of IGEM/GL/8 Edition 4.

General
The standard has been amended to update terms, references to legislation and other standards. It defines the responsibilities in the investigation of different types of gas incident. It makes it clear that the standard primarily covers natural gas. It also now refers to landfill and biogases and confirms that solid fuel and biomass are not in the scope of the document (Section 2.3.2).

Appendix changes
Several changes have been made to the appendix guidance, with information being moved from the main body of the standard, as well as many additions. This allows for more detail to be covered and to give examples of reporting methodology. A list of the information provided in the Appendix is as follows:

  • Appendix 1: Glossary, acronyms, abbreviations and units
  • Appendix 2: References
  • Appendix 3: Submitting reports to the HSE and other authorities under RIDDOR
  • Appendix 4: Examples of dangerous occurrences applicable to the gas transportation and supply industry and reportable under RIDDOR
  • Appendix 5: Flammable gas incidents causing death, loss of consciousness or taking to hospital of a person
  • Appendix 6: Network investigations
  • Appendix 7: On-site explosion incident investigations (for GS(M)R purposes)
  • Appendix 8: Checklist for the conducting of on-site investigations into suspected CO poisonings
  • Appendix 9: Example pro-forma for GS(M)R reporting – Reg 7(12)(gas releases downstream of the ECV)
  • Appendix 10: Example pro-forma for GS(M)R reporting – Reg 7(13)(gas releases upstream of the ECV)
  • Appendix 11: Role of an expert witness
  • Appendix 12: Summary of gas incident reporting requirements.

Figures
The guidance given in flowcharts has been reduced to:

  • Figure 1: Flowchart for on-site investigation of flueless appliances
  • Figure 2: Flowchart for on-site investigation of flued appliances.

Bibliography
(1) IGEM/GL/8 – Edition 3 – Reporting and investigation of gas-related incidents (Communication 1776).
(2) IGEM/GL/8 – Edition 4 – Notification, investigation and reporting of gas-related incidents (Communication 1869).