“It is time Ghana set up a body or mandate an existing regulatory body to check and approve these used cylinders before putting them on the Ghanaian market,” he said.

Having such a body would ensure the safety of customers who bought and used such refurbished cylinders at home, Mr Larbi said.

Mr Larbi, the Managing Director of Solution Solve, an energy advocacy think-tank, was speaking at the Ghana News Agency dialogue platform in Tema on how to identify second hand and home-used gas cylinders and the related issues.

He noted that it was difficult for the ordinary person to identify such cylinders on the market as most of those refurbished ones looked as good as the original ones.

He said a regulatory body would have the responsibility to check the integrity of the cylinder, approve it, and mark it for easy identification.

Mr Larbi said cylinders must be subjected to standard verification every 10 years as pertained in Togo and Benin, for instance, with same done for some used electronics before being imported to reduce domestic fires.

He advised potential gas cylinder buyers to inspect the valve, labelling and the base as well as check for dents to ensure they did not buy used cylinders as new ones.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager, GNA, said: “In dealing with those potential threats, one must first begin to understand the product and application of all the controls and safety procedures put in place.”

“Managing safety is knowledge-based,” he said, and called for consistent public education.