An Evaluation of the Risk and Safety Standards of Some Fuel Stations in Tarkwa

Richard Amorin1,*, Harrison Osei2

Abstract

Fuel stations play a major role in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry. However, their activities are associated with high risk of safety and environmental issues posing traits to fuel attendants, customers and immediate environs. Since 2007, Ghana has recorded numerous accidents at some fuel stations across the country claiming lives and unaccounted damages to assets due to inadequate knowledge of standardised safety policies and poor handling of petroleum products by fuel station operators, attendants and consumers. This study therefore evaluated the compliance of some fuel filling stations in Tarkwa with reference to National Petroleum Authority’s standards. Areas under review included Technical Requirements, Housekeeping, Infrastructure Requirements, Waste Management Storage and Disposal and Occupational Health and Safety. Ten out of fifteen filling stations were evaluated through field visit, interviews, personal observations and administration of questionnaire. The study revealed that, almost all the stations do comply with NPA safety standards to some extent; 40% fell in category A while 60% fell in category B of NPA grading system. Majority of the stations are lacking in the Technical Requirement and Occupational Health and Safety areas which are vital areas to avoiding possible fires and explosions. All fuel stations lacking in any of the five areas of assessment and especially those in the category B per the ranking should be compelled by NPA and oil marketing companies to upgrade their systems to meet grade A standard in order to avoid any unforeseen hazards.

Keywords: Filling Stations, Standards, Compliance, NPA, Occupational Health and Safety.

Figure 1. Effect of Fire Explosion Accident at a Fuel Station [13].

Technical Requirements

Technical requirements covers distance in between outlet and high voltage line, distance in between outlet and low voltage line, dispensing nozzles condition, First Aid Box condition, availability of dipstick, type of dipstick, presence of foam fire extinguisher, CO2 Fire Extinguisher, sand buckets vent pipes, vent pipe length, distance between vent pipes and nearest building, distance between vent pipe and source of fire, cleanliness of vent pipe outlet, no smoking sign switch off engines sign, switch off mobile phone, availability of sampling thermometer state of Underground Storage Tank (UST) manhole covers, are UST covers raised above ground level, colour coding for tanks manhole covers, vent pipes, and UST installation mode.

Infrastructure Requirements

Infrastructure requirements covers toilet facility, state of the level ground, area around pump island, presence of canopy over pump island, condition of canopy and canopy columns, state of light under canopy, state of signage, office/store availability, emergency exit, approach/exit signs, size of forecourt, state and position of electric control gear, waste management storage and disposal.

Waste Management Storage and Disposal

Waste management storage and disposal covers presence of trash bins, state of trash bins, storage and disposal of oil filters, storage and disposal of used/dirty solvents.

Housekeeping

Housekeeping covers presnece of handwash basin, tissue paper and washing soap, hand towel in washroom, availability of water in washroom, state of handwash basin, condition of station surroundings, state of the drains, general state of washroom, general appearance of attendants.

Occupational Health and Safety

Occupational health and safety covers availability of hand gloves, availability of hard hats, availability of uniform, availability of overalls for lubritory attendance, availability of safety boots for pump attendants, availability of safety boots for lubritory attendants, availability of rubber boots for washing bay attendants, availability of nose mask, availability of safety glasses, availability of an emergency plan, and Fire-fighting certificate for attendants.

RESULTS

Technical Requirement

Figure 2 shows the trend of responses received from the ten fuel station operators and attendants on the technical aspect of their operations as far as safety is concerned. Per NPA standards and the trend from the respondents, majority (90%) of the fuel station operators do not comply with NPA safety standards on technical requirement. Five stations; C, D, F, G and I fell within the 70%–79% category and the rest; A, B, E and J, fell within the 50%–69% range. The trend therefore suggested that, technically, majority of the fuel station operators lacked the technical requirement for safe operations of the stations. These shortcomings were attributed to lack of basic safety items such as fire extinguishers, signage, warning notices, etc necessary to save or protect lives and property at any filling station.

Infrastructure Requirements

All the ten stations fell within 80%–100% of NPA requirements under this assessment but with few shortcomings, which were very sensitive to the safe running of the stations (Figure 3). Five out of the ten stations lack approach and exit signs to their respective stations.

Waste Management Storage and Disposal

The respondent rate was very high; all the ten stations met the NPA standards under Waste Management Storage and Disposal. Seven stations recorded 100% score while B, F and G each recorded 83.3% due to an average score for storage and disposal of oil filters (Figure 4).

Housekeeping

The deductions from Figure 5 shows clearly that the response rate was high and all the ten filling stations comply with NPA standardised safety policies on housekeeping. Issues that need to be addressed are state of drains and washrooms.

Occupational Health and Safety

As shown in Figure 6, it can be established that little attention is paid to Occupational Health and Safety as none of the stations was able to pass the grade A score of NPA in this area. Most operators lack the requisite PPEs for their fuel attendants. Stations A, D, G and J fell between 50%–59%. The rest fell within 60%–79%.

Overall Grading/Ranking

Making reference to Table 1 and the five areas that were evaluated; Technical Requirements, Housekeeping, Infrastructure Requirements, Waste Management Storage and Disposal and Occupational Health and Safety, Table 2 and Figure 7 show the overall grading system of the ten filling stations sampled using NPA standardised grading system. Four stations, H, D, F and I scored grade A while the others scored grade B.

Table 3 shows the ranking/standing in deceasing order of merit using NPA grading system.

Per NPA standards in Table 1 and the ranking in Table 3, 40% of the stations fell in category A while 60% fell in category B of NPA grading system. Stations H, D, F and I are to be allowed to operate with their licenses while the rest of the stations; C, E, G, A, J and B are also to be allowed to continue operation with their licenses but the sponsoring Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) must ensure that all the shot shortcomings are addressed within a grace period of 2 months. Moreover, there are minimum regulatory and safety items (fire extinguishers, signage, warning notices, etc.) requirements for any fuel station to operate safely. Thus, absence of any of these safety items should be addressed by fuel station operators lacking in them to help reduce the rate of accidents at the service stations.

CONCLUSIONS

After evaluating the compliance of the ten filling stations in Tarkwa with reference to National Petroleum Authority’s standards under the areas of Technical Requirements, Infrastructure Requirements, Waste Management Storage and Disposal, Housekeeping and Occupational Health and Safety, it can be concluded that:

i. Relatively, all the stations do comply with NPA safety standards to some extent; 40% fell in category A while 60% fell in category B of NPA grading system.

ii. However, majority (90%) of the fuel station operators do not comply with NPA safety standards on technical requirement. Five stations; C, D, F, G and I fell within the 70%–79% category and the rest; A, B, E and J, fell within the 50%–69% range.

iii. Most operators lack the requisite for Occupational Health and Safety requirements which are essential areas to avoiding possible fires and explosions. Stations A, D, G and J fell between 50%–59%. The rest fell within 60%–79%.

Recommendations

Pertaining to the conclusions made above, the following are recommended:

i. All fuel stations lacking in any of the five areas of assessment especially those in the category B per the overall ranking should be compelled by NPA and oil marketing companies to upgrade their systems to meet grade A in order to avoid any unforeseen hazards. Also, the sponsoring OMC must ensure that all the identified shortcomings are addressed within a period of 2 months.

ii. There should be routine safety education programmes to educate fuel station operators on the need for safe work practices at all times at the fuel stations.

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