TORONTO - Public health and safety are being put at risk while Ontario's Liberal government waits for a final report on the province's propane storage plants, opposition leaders said Tuesday.

In a review ordered after an August explosion at Sunrise Propane in Toronto that claimed two lives, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority said a first blitz of large plants around Ontario turned up violations in 88 of 196 sites investigated.

Most violations weren't considered immediately dangerous and ranged from weeds that were too close to tanks to improper storage. Seven of the 88 had problems deemed "immediate hazards."

"You have a situation where an audit shows half the facilities in Ontario are not in compliance, then a whole bunch of people were asleep at the switch," Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said.

"(Premier Dalton) McGuinty's temptation is of course to blame the regulator. Well, the regulator is accountable to him and to his government, and these people were asleep at the switch on this and they're going to be held to account for it."

New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton said the results of the audit show that self-regulation by the industry doesn't work.

"You cannot have companies inspecting and regulating themselves when the public's safety and health are at risk," he said.

"If the Sunrise explosion had happened another day, on a working day ... hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives could have been at stake."

McGuinty said the province is doing everything it can to ensure propane depots are safe, adding he is awaiting the advice of independent experts.

"We've got a couple of independent experts who are going to provide us with the best advice, and from a government perspective, they're going to do that at breakneck speed," he said.

"We look forward to receiving that advice, and we're prepared to do whatever it takes to better protect public safety."

Small Business and Entrepreneurship Minister Harinder Takhar declined to say whether he believes a review of the regulatory system is needed, stressing that his main concern is to ensure the public is safe.

The provincial government doesn't manage the inspections but does oversee the standards authority, a private regulatory system.

Takhar said he believes the province acted quickly enough, even though the full inspection report won't be completed until late October at the earliest.

"I ordered the review of all facilities, and that was completed within one week, and all the actions were taken in order to make sure that the propane facilities that are working are safe," Takhar said.

"Once the report comes out, then we will look at the recommendations and see what we need to do."