United States Propane Safety Statistics
There are numerous statistics related to propane. There are probably too many to keep track of but the most relevant are provided here for informational purposes only. These statistics come from external sources as reported.
2015 US Propane Usage Statistics
| *Residential Propane Users | 50,000,000 |
| Commercial Propane Users | 900,000 |
| Propane Fueled On-Road Vehicles | 143,000 |
| Industrial Propane Users | 168,000 |
| Agricultural Propane | 320,000 |
| Propane Powered Forklifts | 690,000 |
Propane Fire Statistics
One of the most common misperceptions about propane is that it causes and is responsible for the bulk of fires in the United States. Statistics presented by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) do not list propane as a leading cause of fires. In fact, propane is not even listed as a source of residential structure fires in the U.S. Some of the factors that are listed as major causes include cooking equipment, heating equipment, intentionally set fires, candles and smoking materials. The cooking and heating equipment listed could be supplied by propane and in some cases it probably was but the point is this; The National Fire Protection Association does not list propane as a leading cause of fires nor as a leading contributor in fires.
Propane Grill Fire Statistics
"The leading cause for grill fires
in the US is failure to clean"
With around 60 million propane grills in the US, there will be incidents, as with any product in use with those numbers. An NFPA grill fire study from 2009 to 2013 showed an average of 7,415 gas grill fires per year. Interestingly, the leading causes listed in the study were failure to clean the grill, having the grill too cluse to combustible material and leaving the grill unattended while in use. A leak or break in the gas line accounted for 14% of the causes, or around 1,040 gas grill fires. Looking at the numbers above, propane as a fuel source for grills has a pretty good track record, with a .000017 incident rate. And when you look at the frequency of gas grill use, the incident rate goes down even further.
Realistic Propane Safety Statistics
Accidents do occur with and around propane but what many will have consumers believe is that propane is an unsafe fuel. But in reality, LP Gas usage statistics combined with accident statistics tell a much different story that is more accurate than what skeptic would have you believe. The statistics provided below are based on information collected and provided by the NFPA between 2012 and 2016. During this time frame, on average, Fire Departments responded to 355,400 residential fires per year......During this same time frame, the report lists an average of 2,900 residential fires with LP-Gas being the first material ignited. Based on this information, what do the numbers really say:
| 2012-2016 LP-Gas Home Structure Fires | |
| Average Home Structure Fires | 2,900 |
| Average Annual Civilian Deaths | 25 |
| Average Annual Civilian Injuries | 155 |
- Of all residential fires, propane listed as the first ignited material accounted for less than 1% of all fires.
- Of all civilian casualties with propane listed as the first ignited material, the casualty rate is .00007.
- Of all civilian injuries with propane listed as the first ignited material, the injury rate is .00004.
When compraing the casualty and injury rates of propane fires to total fires, the rates are .009 and .013, respectively. Propane usage in the US is climbing, and while so, propane maintains a strong safety record.