Barbecue safety

Carrying out a few safety checks can mean your home and the people you share a barbeque meal with are safe.

Safety checks

Cylinder and hoses

• Check your LPG cylinder is:
  • in date
  • certified as safe to use
  • disposed of correctly if it’s no longer safe.

• Make sure the hose isn’t cracked, kinked, crushed or stretched.
• Check for gas leaks before you use it
• Turn the gas off at both the cylinder and barbecue once you have finished cooking. It is safer to turn off the cylinder first so gas in the pipe doesn't get trapped.

Storage

When storing your barbeque, protect the hose from:

• heat
• sun exposure
• physical damage.

You should replace the hose every five years.

Location

Whether your barbeque is portable or built in, make sure you:

• Keep children a safe distance from barbecues and LPG cylinders.
• Only use your barbecue:
  • in a well ventilated area
  • outdoors, never inside your home
  • where there’s no dry fuel nearby – especially during fire danger season - What to do in a bushfire

You must hire a licensed gas fitter when you install a fixed or built-in barbeque and get a certificate of compliance from the gas fitter when the work is done.

Cleaning

Make sure you barbeque is kept free from built up grease and check that:

• the drip tray and grills are clean
• the burners are not blocked
• the control knobs haven’t seized up.

Have your barbecue checked every two years by a licensed gas fitter.

Do it yourself LPG barbecue trailers

Don't build your own barbecue trailer.

Extensive testing is needed to establish gas appliance safety and these tests must be carried out by an authorised laboratory, based on the Australian Standards.

Securely mounting two certified gas barbecues on a trailer will safely do the same job.

If you have any questions about the safety and legality of barbeque trailers and the use of gas in food vehicles, contact the Gas Trades team at the Office of the Technical Regulator.