On March 13, a natural gas explosion occurred at the Dishang restaurant in a community in Yanjiao, Langfang, Hebei Province, killing 7 people and injuring 27 others. Only three days later, another natural gas explosion occurred in a restaurant in Huai 'an, Jiangsu Province, injuring two people. It has been less than a year since the particularly serious gas explosion at Yinchuan Barbecue in Ningxia in June last year. The frequency of natural gas explosion accidents, large and small, in various places is shocking! While natural gas brings great convenience to our lives, how should we ensure its safety? It must be taken seriously!

According to the latest official report, this natural gas explosion accident in Yanjiao, Hebei Province is likely caused by a leak from a transmission pipeline that has been in operation for more than 20 years. This exposes a deep hidden worry about urban gas safety. The gas pipeline buried underground has been damaged for a long time and is running with diseases., design, construction, operation and maintenance may all become the source of hidden dangers.

The underground pipe network is the "inner" project and "conscience" project of urban construction. Among the natural gas pipeline network accidents whose causes have been verified in 2023, the top three causes are third-party construction damage, pipeline corrosion leakage, and geological disasters. Among them, accidents caused by third-party construction damage accounted for the highest proportion, reaching 85.2%! Missing drawings and lax review of underground pipeline construction permits will lead to the construction party being unclear about the underground pipeline network. For urban governance, it is urgent to find out the context of underground pipe networks as soon as possible, confirm the number and location of pipelines, and conduct real-time monitoring through digital and other technical means to achieve early detection and early "treatment." The safety of the gas pipeline network not only tests people's sense of responsibility, but also tests professionalism. If a more complete technical standard system cannot be established and loopholes in various aspects such as design, construction, operation and maintenance cannot be plugged, then gas safety can only be treated by treating headaches and shortcomings, and the problem cannot be solved from the root cause.

In addition to the safety of pipeline operation, the safety of gas use should also be paid attention to. Why is the "safety valve" for gas always unable to be screwed on? The Huaian gas explosion accident and the Yinchuan Fuyang Barbecue Gas explosion accident reflect several common problems. First, practitioners have a weak awareness of safety, fail to implement production safety responsibilities, improperly handle liquefied gas leaks, operate in violation of regulations, and use steel cylinders that have not been inspected within the deadline, fail inspection, or have been scrapped. Second, the distribution staff illegally distributed liquefied gas to catering operators without safe production conditions. Third, fire safety inspections are perfunctory and problem rectification is done through the motions, resulting in hidden dangers not being investigated before they occur.

To build a strong gas safety barrier, it is necessary to increase publicity for the safe use of natural gas and continuously enhance the gas safety awareness of residents and business users; management departments must increase inspections of the use, storage, transportation, and distribution of bottled liquefied gas, and strengthen gas safety. During supervision and inspection, we must focus on "fine" and "micro". In addition to major hidden dangers visible to the naked eye, we must also draw inferences from the outside to the inside to discover "accident signs" and "accident signs" in a timely manner.

These explosions once again remind us that invisible dangers are more urgent and important than visible face. Gas safety cannot always be tested by life, and life cannot withstand such a painful test.

author:Li Xinzhi and Zhang Dongjun

edit:Kong Kexing

proofreading:Tommy Cheung