Majority of Kenyans don't use cooking gas correctly, research shows

Nairobi, Kenya: Majority of Kenyans using Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders in their homes have little or no knowledge of  safety requirements on the installation and use of these cylinders.

This is according to a report by the Kenya Accreditation Service ( KENAS). KENAS is the sole National Accreditation Body in Kenya mandated by the Government of Kenya to attest the competence of Conformity Assessment Bodies offering testing, calibration, certification and inspection services, both in the public and private sectors.

Sammy Milgo Chief Executive officer KENAS said that there was growing demand for energy in the country and thus the need for accreditation of the firms involved with energy production to cushion consumers from exploitation and substandard services from new players in the industry.

“Accreditation provides peace of mind and assurance to both business and consumers that the products and services they are using in daily life have been verified by conformity assessment bodies against national and international standards” he said.

The CEO was speaking on Monday when he attended the World Accreditation Day conference, at Crowne Plaza in Nairobi

Accompanied by Engineer Thigu Kiiru, Deputy Manager, installation, Kenya Power, Milgo further noted that one of the challenges the institution was facing was lack of awareness from the public.

“Many  organisations still are not aware of the existence of KENAS and to deal with this we are planning to roll out awareness campaigns that will carried out on different parts of the country," he said.

He further noted that the body was also offering training for the implementation of the standards as well as assessor training for all standards, uncertainty of measurements, validation and verification of methods and internal auditing as per specific standards.

Kiiru noted that the recent surge in power tariffs was not under the control of the power body but the buck stopped with the Energy regulatory commission which was tasked with regulating tariffs and rates in the energy sector.

“We as Kenya Power we are tasked with distribution of power to consumers across the country and anything to do with increasing of rates and power tariffs lies with the energy regulatory body,” he noted.

The accreditation services offered by KENAS include, accreditation of medical, veterinary and other testing and calibration laboratories, certification bodies dealing with management systems, products or persons and inspection bodies.