Fatalities related to gas exposure attributed to gas installation

Dyddiad y datganiad:
4 July 2023

FOI REF: FOI-2023-1152

You asked

Can you please provide information on the following for years 2009 to the present date, June 2023, or up until the most recent records held:

1. Number of fatal incidents and fatalities, split by year, caused by natural gas exposure where this has been attributed to a gas installation, from, and including the gas meter installation and downstream of the gas meter installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

2. Number of fatal incidents and fatalities, split by year, caused by liquid petroleum gas (LPG) exposure where this has been attributed to a gas installation, from, and including the gas supply vessel installation and downstream of the gas supply vessel installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

3. Number of fatal incidents and fatalities, split by year, caused by gas explosion where this has been attributed to a gas installation, either natural gas or LPG, from, and including the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation and downstream of the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

4. Number of fatal incidents and fatalities, split by year, caused by carbon monoxide poisoning where this has been attributed to a gas installation, either natural gas or LPG, from, and including the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation and downstream of the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

5. Number of non-fatal incidents and injuries, if any, split by year, caused by natural gas exposure where this has been attributed to a gas installation, from, and including the gas meter installation and downstream of the gas meter installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

6. Number of non-fatal incidents and injuries, if any, split by year, caused by liquid petroleum gas (LPG) exposure where this has been attributed to a gas installation, from, and including the gas supply vessel installation and downstream of the gas supply vessel installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

7. Number of non-fatal incidents and injuries, if any, split by year, caused by gas explosion where this has been attributed to a gas installation, either natural gas or LPG, from, and including the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation and downstream of the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

8. Number of non-fatal incidents and injuries, if any, split by year, caused by carbon monoxide poisoning where this has been attributed to a gas installation, either natural gas or LPG, from, and including the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation and downstream of the gas meter installation or gas supply vessel installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

9. Number of fatal incidents and fatalities, split by year, caused by natural gas explosion where this has been attributed to a gas service pipework (National Mains Natural Gas Network), up to, and including the gas meter installation only, and general geo-location of each death.

10. Number of non-fatal incidents and injuries, if any, split by year, caused by natural gas explosion where this has been attributed to a gas service pipework (National Mains Natural Gas Network), up to, and including the gas meter installation only, and general geo-location of each incident.

We said

Thank you for your request.

We hold mortality data for England and Wales based on the information collected at death registration. 

All the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. 

The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as: 

  • the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or 
  • the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury 

Information on whether the death was caused by interference or damage to either gas pipelines or meters is not recorded on the death certificate, however, in some cases it may be mentioned on the Coroners or Narrative text.

The following ICD_10 codes would apply:

Deaths due to Natural Gas exposure  

  • Natural Gas Exposure T598 X478 

  • If mentioned Gas exposure with Burns X04 T598  

  • If mentioned GAS inhalation T598 X478 but if a fire is mentioned it is X04 

Deaths due to Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)  

  • LPG Exposure T598 X478 

  • If mentioned LPG exposure with Burns X04 T598  

  • If mentioned LPG inhalation T598 X478 but if a fire is mentioned it is X04 

Deaths due to Gas explosion  

  • Gas Explosion is W40 with a T599  

  • LPG Explosion is W40 with a T598 

  • Gas Boiler exploded - T599, W35 

  • LPG Boiler exploded - T598 W35  

Deaths attributed to accidents, poisonings and violence are examined, firstly according to the underlying cause of death (external cause) and secondly by the nature of injury or main injury. External cause of injury codes are taken from Chapter XX of the ICD (prefixes U50.9 and V01 to Y89, where U50.9 is a temporary code and not included in Chapter XX) and nature of injury codes are from Chapter XIX (prefixes S00 to T98) or from a smaller number of other post-procedural codes not within Chapter XIX. 

Due to the way these deaths are coded, our interactive webservice NOMIS cannot be used as it only extracts underlying cause of death.

However you can also find deaths from external causes of morbidity and mortality (Chapter XX) by secondary cause code in Tables 9a and 9b of our annual Deaths Registered Series.

Deaths due to Carbon Monoxide

For carbon monoxide poisoning, cause of death is coded a little differently. The underlying cause would be coded to accidental poisoning by gas & other vapours (ICD-10 code X47) along with a secondary cause of death code for toxic effect of carbon monoxide (ICD-10 code T58). You will not be able to obtain these data from NOMIS because NOMIS only includes deaths by underlying cause. However, we have published the following bespoke datasets that you might find useful. 

User requested datasets

For your more specific requirements that are not available in the publications provided, please get in touch with our Health Analysis and Pandemic Insights (HAPI) customer services team, who will be able to assist with providing this information via our bespoke services route. These services are subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs under the ONS Charging policy.  

If you would like to discuss further or to obtain a quote, please contact the HAPI Customer Service team at health.data@ons.gov.uk.

Non-Fatal incidents and Injuries

We do not hold non-fatal injury statistics, for this information you would need to contact either Health and Safety Executive or NHS Digital. 

Data relating to the number of explosions that may be attributed to electricity or gas are primarily collected by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). They may be able to provide further assistance and can be contacted at contacthmicfrs@hmicfrs.gov.uk.

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