MEMBER BENEFIT
CGA Offers Free Compressed Gas Safety Resources for the Cannabis Industry BY LAURA BRUMSEY, CGA VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION
I Laura Brumsey is the Vice President of Operations and Administration for the Compressed Gas Association (CGA). She can be reached at 703788-2757 or lbrumsey@ cganet.com
26 • Spring 2022
n recent years, following the legalization of marijuana in a number of U.S. states, and the increasing popularity of CBD oil, demand for the compressed gas industry’s products has been on the rise in cannabis growing and processing facilities. CBD oil producers have contacted staff at the Compressed Gas Association (CGA) with inquiries about how to safely install and use the gas systems needed in their facilities. While we can’t tell them how to use our products for their specific application, we are committed to communicating the safety considerations and risks associated with these products, and providing guidance on how to mitigate those risks. This is in line with our scope, which our Board of Directors expanded in late 2018 to include providing “basic safety considerations for end use.” We continue to ramp up efforts to more widely communicate safety considerations and risks involved in using our products, and sharing strategies to mitigate those risks, so that users at all levels of experience and expertise can protect themselves, their customers, and their communities. In 2020, the cannabis industry was identified as an area of focus for our growing end user safety communications. In discussions with cannabis association staff and operators, we had begun to hear a common theme emerge – that many weren’t sure where to find more information on gases, related equipment, and their safe use. At the same time, our members had begun
In discussions with cannabis association staff and operators, we had begun to hear a common theme emerge – that many weren’t sure where to find more information on gases, related equipment, and their safe use. asking how we could help educate those in this emerging field on the potential hazards of the gases and equipment being used in cannabis operations – to help ensure that employees in these facilities could safely interact with our industry’s products and equipment. CGA decided to help fill that gap. Our staff engaged in conversations with representatives from the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) to better understand how our industry’s products are used in these operations and identify the areas where education was needed. We also worked with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to learn more about their standards activity on this topic and how they built relationships with cannabis facility operators to drive awareness and acceptance of safety messages. As we delved into this industry, our committees identified four key areas that presented an immedi-
