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PETROL FILLING STATION SAFETY ASSESSMENT AND FIRE SAFETY

KNOWLEDGE OF FUEL PUMP ATTENDANTS

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 Journal of Ghana Science Association, Volume 20(2), 2021 Date of Publication: 10 July 2022
ISSN: 2737-713X

PETROL FILLING STATION SAFETY ASSESSMENT AND FIRE SAFETY KNOWLEDGE OF FUEL PUMP
ATTENDANTS

1 *Daniel A. Anang, 1 Kekeli Anyomi, 1 Benjamin Afotey, 1 Mizpah A. D. Rockson, 1 Emmanuela

Kwao-Boateng, 2 Edward Antwi and 1 Augustine T. Tagoe
1 Chemical Engineering Department, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
2 Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, Kumasi Technical University, Kumasi, Ghana
*Corresponding author: daanang.coe@knust.edu.gh

Abstract
The proliferation of petrol filling stations (PFSs) across the globe is in line with increased global demand
for petroleum products. In developing countries, however, a number of the emerging PFSs lack the needed
requirements for operation. Due to the disregard for national guidelines in their set-up and lack of monitoring
during operations, some PFSs become potential fire hazards to the immediate surroundings. This present
work studied the fire safety awareness of 45 fuel pump attendants and the compliance of all 19 active PFSs in
the Ho Municipality (Ghana) to regulatory standards through an interviewer-administered questionnaire, field
measurements and observational assessment. Data collected was analyzed using Origin 2020 software. The
results indicate that most pump attendants in the locality are knowledgeable on the causes of fire and safety
measures instituted by management to avoid fire outbreak. Though 89% of respondents have knowledge in the
use of fire extinguishers, only 42% confirmed their certification by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to
work as pump attendants. Forty-two percent of the PFSs are within 30 m radius of residential facilities and 56%
of residents found within the 30 m radius lived in the vicinity before the set-up of the PFSs. Some PFSs in the Ho
Municipality breached several national regulatory guidelines in their set-up and operations making their activities
unsafe. It is recommend that regulatory bodies revisit and review the activities of PFSs in the community. Also,
non-compliance to standards should be investigated and appropriate measures taken.

Introduction filling stations do not consider the scientific nature of the soil,
environmental characteristics and regulatory guidelines. In
some cases, fuel facilities are located very close to each other
The rate of urbanization in developing countries has out-paced
or close to the road causing heavy traffic during “rush hours”
governments’ ability to provide critical infrastructure to en-
and endangering lives and properties.
sure the safety, health and wellbeing of urban dwellers. Ac-
Fuel filling stations (FFS) are dedicated facilities that house
cording to United Nations Fund for Population Activities
and sell petroleum products. In Ghana, most FFS sell or refill
(UNFPA, News, 2020), the world is currently undergoing an
petrol and diesel with a handful dispensing LPG. In other ju-
upsurge in urban growth never experienced before in history.
risdictions, specialty fuels such as kerosene, biodiesel, natural
It is estimated that half of the world’s population now live in
gas, butane and hydrogen may be dispensed at FFS (Ayodele,
major towns and cities, and by 2030 this number will swell to
2011) as cited in (Odeh, 2017). These products give off highly
about 5 billion (UNFPA, News, 2020). Urban growth coupled
flammable vapour even at low temperatures. As a result, FFS
with industrialization has seen an upsurge in the use of auto-
carry a risk of fire or explosion not common to other retail
mobiles in most cities across the world, hence, an increase
outlets. Moreover, the constant movement of vehicles in and
demand for petroleum products (Li et al., 2019; Musah et al.,
out of the FFS adds to the risk levels. Ignition may occur
2020). According to OPEC, World Oil Outlook (2020), global
when petrol vapour is exposed to a heat source such as sparks
oil demand is projected to rise from 100 mb/d in 2019 to 109
from electric switches, lighted cigarette or static electric dis-
mb/d in 2045. The need to make these petroleum products
charge (Health and Safety Authority, 2017). Rezazadeh et al.
readily available and easily accessible has led to the sprouting
(2012), studied the harmful effects of petrol vapour on FFS
of fuel filling stations across major cities, some of which are
attendants. They concluded that FFS attendants are constantly
stationed very close to residential areas. This situation may
exposed to toxic substances like Benzene which are hazardous
pose danger to staff and residents in the vicinity of the filling
to their health. Exposure to lower concentrations of the fumes
station. Peprah et al. (2018), developed a protocol for predict-
can cause irritation of the eye, skin and respiratory tract (Tu
ing the suitability of siting filling stations at specific locations.
et al., 2004) while exposure to higher concentrations may be
They used GPS equipment, location features, and environmen-
disastrous including facilitation of cancer formation in hu-
tal factors coupled with an Analytical Hierarchy Process to
mans (Loomis et al., 2017) and respiratory failure which may
do the determination. However, it appears the siting of new

47
Petrol filling station safety assessment and fire safety knowledge of fuel pump attendants
lead to unconsciousness and death (Dede and Kagbo, 2002).
Other effects around FFSs have been reported. For instance, a
recent study released by Odipe et al. (2020) suggested that the
activities of FFS within the Ilorin metropolis in Nigeria may
have contaminated groundwater sources within close proxim-
ity posing health risk to the locality. The hazardous nature of
any FFS necessitates careful design, operation and monitoring
to ensure safe running of the facility throughout its lifespan
devoid of fire or explosion (Ahmed et al., 2011).
Activities of FFS can lead to fires, explosions and contamina-
tion of the environment. The consequences of these activities
are global and occur in both developed and developing coun-
tries. For instance, in a five year study by the US National
Fire Protection Association from 2014 to 2018, an estimated
average of 4,150 fires were recorded at FFS per year. The
fires led to 3 civilian deaths, 43 injuries and about $30 million
in damages per year (Ahrens, 2020). A report by Daines et al.
(2011) detailed a thorough investigation into the environmen-
tal sensitivity of 86,000 PFSs across 13 European countries
to understand how they pollute groundwater, surface water
and ecological receptors using a source-pathway-receptor and
GIS based approach. The results indicate that irrespective of
the country’s location, the potential for FFS to pose risk to
a particular receptor is very low. Moreover, in the Shaanxi
Province of China, an oil tanker refueling at a fuel station
caught fire and exploded according to Newsflare (2016). The
entire station was set ablaze leading to the injury of several
people including the driver and some firefighters. Also, an
oil tanker filled with petrol and about to discharge at a filling
station sited close to Eke Nibo Market, Anambra State (Nige-
ria) caught fire while trying to enter the station (Ulasi and
Uwadiegwu, 2020). The timely intervention of the State Fire
Service brought the fire under control. However, the incident
left the burnt tanker on the road for two days causing inconve-
nience to commuters who had to find alternative, longer routes
for transportation. Dubbed the June 3rd disaster in Ghana,
a Goil filling station at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in
Accra got inflamed killing 152 people while injuring several
others (Ghana National Fire Service, 2020). Several valuables
including vehicles, a forex bureau and a pharmacy were lost
to the fire. Moreover, a tanker at a Goil LPG filling station
in Legon, Accra caught fire and exploded. The fire spread to
a nearby Total filling station across the street resulting in a
second explosion releasing a heavy ball of fire into the night
sky forcing residents to flee for safety (Aljazeera News, 2017).
At least seven were killed with several properties damaged. In
a related incidence, an LPG filling station in Ho (Ghana) got
flamed killing two people while injuring dozen others (The
Ghana Report, 2020). According to health professionals, the
victims suffered between 60 and 97% degree of burns.
These examples raise concerns about the safety practices in
and around PFSs globally. Prior to these accidents in Ghana,
researchers started probing and asking questions about the
safety of PFS facilities. For instance, Ansah and Mintah
(2012) surveyed 114 pump attendants from Goil, Shell Ghana,
Journal of Ghana Science Association, Volume 20(2), 2021
Anang et al. — 48/54
Total Petroleum, and Allied Oil in the Central and Western re-
gions of Ghana and assessed the safety management structures
instituted by owners for their protection. The report concluded
that there was high level of safety management policies in
place among the PFSs surveyed. However, attendants were
likely exposed to hazardous petroleum vapor due to the pro-
vision of limited number of personal protective equipment
(PPEs) by management. Later, Monney et al. (2015), con-
ducted a similar study in Kumasi and investigated whether
the common illness exhibited by pump attendants are related
to their occupation. It concluded that the repetitive tasks per-
formed by pump attendants predispose them to high health
risks. These reports are relevant in understanding the safety
management practices espoused by fuel marketing companies
to avoid occupational hazards. However, the reports failed to
examine activities around the filling stations. Moreover, the
areas of Kumasi, Takoradi and Cape Coast in the previous
studies are major cities with high population in Ghana (World
Population Review, 2020). This study therefore sought to as-
sess potential fire hazards in and around petrol filling stations
in the Ho municipality, Ghana. It tried to study if PFSs in a
less populated area like Ho municipality adhered strictly to
national standards. To the best of the knowledge of the au-
thors, this is the first study of its kind looking into the health
and safety practices of PFSs in Ho. The results of the study
can provide valuable information to regulatory agencies on
the current practices of PFSs in the Ho municipality.
Materials and Methods
Study area
The study was conducted in the Ho Municipal district. It is
one of the 18 districts in the Volta Region of Ghana (yellow
demarcation, Figure 1(a)). The red ring in Figure 1(a) in-
dicates the boundaries of Ho municipality and Figure 1(b)
shows the magnified view. The municipality is the regional
capital and business district of the Volta region. It is located
between latitudes 6◦ 2"N and 6◦ 55"N and longitudes 0◦ 12’E
and 0◦ 53’E. It shares boundaries with Ho West district to the
north and west, Agortime-Ziope and Adaklu districts to the
south and the Republic of Togo to the east. It has a total land
size of 2361 square kilometers. The total population of the
municipality is about 177,281, comprising of 52.7% female
and 47.3% male. 62% of these reside in urban communities
according to the Ghana Statistical Services report on the 2010
Housing and Population Census.
Data collection
Quantitative and qualitative techniques were employed in the
study to harvest information from the study subjects. An
initial list of 24 PFSs in the municipality was obtained from
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A casual survey con-
ducted to locate the PFSs unearthed 8 other PFSs which were
not listed in the EPA document but were found operating in
the locality. Eleven (11) out of the 24 were active. Therefore,
to engage and study active PFSs, the research team made a
Date of Publication: 10 July 2022
Petrol filling station safety assessment and fire safety knowledge of fuel pump attendants Anang et al. — 49/54

residential facilities or their representatives nominated by the

heads within the 30 m bracket of 8 PFSs were interviewed.
Data retrieved from the interviews were collated and subjected
to statistical analysis using Origin 2020 software. The pro-
cessed data is presented in the form of tables and bar graphs in
this report. A simple average was used to determine the over-
all performance for each category of assessment in order to
understand the category’s level of compliance. Secondary data
was also harnessed by critically reviewing existing literature
with confirmation from NPA, EPA and GNFS.
Figure 1. (a) Map of Ghana showing Volta Region (yellow
demarcation); (b) Map of study area. Results and Discussion
(Sources: City Population (2021), Google Map (2021))
Demographic characteristics of pump attendants
The data collected from all 19 Oil Marketing Companies
(OMCs) in the Ho municipality, 45 fuel attendants and 9
reconnaissance study of the area and observed 19 active filling residents who shared boundary wall with the OMCs were
stations. In this work, data was collected from all nineteen analyzed.
(19) petrol filling stations. Permission was obtained from the
petrol station managers and data was collected between June
and July 2021. Primary data was collected by observation,
field measurements and interviews at the filling stations to
extract real-time information about compliance to national
guidelines aimed at preventing fire at the stations.
National Petroleum Authority technical guidelines for oper-
ating PFSs including attendants acquiring certificate of com-
petence from GNFS as requirement to work at PFSs, PFSs
clearly using precautionary informative signs to communicate
with customers, etc. were adopted and used in this research
(National Petroleum Authority, 2017). Physical observations
were carried out and key mandatory sign indicators such as
"No Smoking", "In and Exit", "Switch Off Engine" as well as
the presence of "fire extinguishers", "sand in bucket", "leakage
detection system", etc. were checked and used as basis for as-
sessment. The performance of PFSs based on routine mandate
such as daily check of emergency stop systems and regular
maintenance of fire extinguishers was also assessed by inter-
viewing attendants who had worked at PFSs for at least a year
on routine practices at the stations. On-site physical measure-
ments including PFS wall height, distance from underground
storage tank (UST) to dispenser and distance from PFS wall Figure 2. Type of oil marketing company and social-
to nearest residence were conducted using tape measure. The demographics of pump attendants
interviews were in the form of an administered questionnaire.
A part of the questionnaire was carefully designed to extract As shown in Figure 2, the result suggests that there are more
information from employees (pump attendants). All atten- private or individually owned OMCs than multi-national owned
dants at post (2 or 3 at all times) were interviewed on the day or state owned OMCs in operation in the Ho Municipality.
of data collection to obtain a representative information and to The age group data indicates that most (75.6%) of the pump
ascertain among other things their awareness of fire safety and attendants are youthful and energetic (35years and below);
level of training to combat fire. Again, attendants who had with majority (57.7%) being male. The constant movement of
worked for at least a year were further questioned on possible vehicles in and out of the station and the long working hours
annual trainings to understand their training cycle. The PFSs require pump attendants to be agile and athletic, which is
studied in this work include 5 multi-national oil companies, 9 consistent with the results shown here. An estimated average
privately-owned and 5 state-owned companies. The other part age of 24.8 years was obtained from the survey. About 80%
of the questionnaire focused on buildings located within 30 of the respondents had educational qualification up to at least
m from the filling stations. The buildings were identified as secondary school level and 71.1% with secondary education
either residential or commercial facilities. Nine (9) heads of indicated their desire to pursue higher education in the not

Journal of Ghana Science Association, Volume 20(2), 2021 Date of Publication: 10 July 2022
Petrol filling station safety assessment and fire safety knowledge of fuel pump attendants Anang et al. — 50/54

distant future. This finding is in agreement with a similar training only. Four respondents (∼9%) did not receive any
study conducted in Ile-Ife (Nigeria) and reported by Afolabi training before securing jobs at PFSs. Twenty-eight pump
(2011) where a high 98% of all pump attendants surveyed attendants (∼63%) were trained for more than a week before
(n=54) had at least secondary education. It was also noted that job commencement while thirteen (∼29%) were trained in
the only employees with tertiary education were employed by less than a week. The reason for the different training dura-
the state owned PFSs. This implies that most of the attendants tions may be due to each company’s own training policies.
interviewed were educated, understood the questions asked It is important that OMCs provide refresher fire safety train-
and provided fair responses. ing sessions to personnel to ensure they are familiar with
fire safety arrangements or are abreast with new and better
Pump attendants’ knowledge of fire hazards ways to manage fire at the work place. Out of the 34 respon-
The fire safety awareness of pump attendants was assessed and dents, ∼62% received annual training while 38% did not (see
the results are shown in Table 1. All respondents (100%) had Table 2). Also, ∼88.9% had knowledge of the use of fire
knowledge of activities that could cause fire at the filling sta- extinguisher but only 42.2% had confirmed their fire safety
tion; thus “No Smoking”, “Switch Off Engine”, “No Phone”, competence certification from GNFS as a requirement to work
etc. Moreover, about 88.9% had knowledge on the use of fire at a PFS (Table 2). The study also revealed that there was lack
extinguisher and 95.6% know where to congregate in case of of interest on the part of management to ensure that workers
fire outbreak. An overall average compliance of 97.4% is esti- produce their competence certificate from GNFS before and
mated for pump attendants indicating that most of them had after employment. The overall average level of training was
knowledge on potential fire hazards or how to manage fire at estimated to be 65.0%. This poor mark is mainly associated
the PFS. Akuffo et al. (2019), studied the knowledge level of with more than 50% of attendants working without GNFS
25 fuel pump attendants in the Tamale metropolis and found certification. It should be noted that the duration of training
out that all 25 attendants have high level of safety knowledge was not used in the assessment of training. In the report of
needed to manage the stations which is in agreement with the Ansah and Mintah (2012), 68% of all fuel attendants (n=114)
results shown here. either agreed or strongly agreed that OMCs provide safety
training to employees before they are allowed to work.
Table 1. Fire safety awareness of pump attendants
S/N Indicator Number Percentage Table 2. Level of Training of Respondents
complied complied S/N Indicator Number Percentage
1. Awareness of safety 45 100 complied complied
measures. 1. Trained before start 41 91.1
2. Knowledge on 40 88.9 of job.
usage of fire 2. More than 1 week 31 68.9
extinguisher. duration of training.
3. Awareness of “No 45 100 3. Received Annual 21 61.8
Smoking”. Training.
4. Awareness of 45 100 4. Fire Safety 19 42.2
“Switch off Certification by
Engine”. GNFS.
5. Awareness of “No 45 100 Average Percentage Compliance 65.0
Phones”.
6. Awareness of 43 95.6
Assembling point in
Assessment of PFSs by physical observation
case of fire.
It is mandated to have various precautionary informative signs
Average Percentage Compliance 97.4
clearly displayed at the filling stations. This is to educate,
caution customers on fire preventive measures and to avoid
accidents at the stations. The results shown in Table 3 in-
Level of training of pump attendants dicate that 68.4%, 63.2% and 73.7% clearly displayed “No
Training plays a pivotal role in the performance of workers. Smoking”, “In and Exit” and “Switch Off Engine” signs re-
Bhat (2013), explained that training is an important tool for spectively. It was also observed that all (100%) PFS retail
human capital development and a differentiator of a good outlets have the 9 litres Foam or 6kg Chemical Powder while
company from a great one. Pump attendants were interviewed only 52.3% have the compressed CO2 fire extinguishers visi-
on their level of training and the results showed that 91.1% bly displayed and close to dispensers but only 68.4% met the
had received some form of training before commencing the adequacy ratio of dispenser to pump of 1:1. Further, 84.2%
job. Thirty-nine respondents (∼87%) received both oral and of the PFSs have sand in buckets or boxes available at the
demonstration training. Two respondents (∼5%) received oral stations. Sand is used for extinguishing fire from petroleum

Journal of Ghana Science Association, Volume 20(2), 2021 Date of Publication: 10 July 2022
Petrol filling station safety assessment and fire safety knowledge of fuel pump attendants Anang et al. — 51/54

sources and plays an important role in the management of the results in Table 3 suggest that only 4 of the 19 PFSs do
spills at the stations. Fifteen point eight percent (15.8%) of some forms of leak detection and out of these, 25% check their
the PFSs were observed to have some spills on the floor. An leakage weekly and 75% check quarterly (Table 4). Several
average score of 74.5% is awarded to the PFSs based on phys- methods are employed in leakage detection including auto-
ical assessment. This score is attributed to most (79%) filling matic tank gauging, monitoring for vapor in soil, monitoring
stations not having leaking detection system, about half of for contamination in groundwater, statistical inventory recon-
the stations operating without liquefied or compressed CO2 ciliation and weekly manual tank gauging (VEEDER-ROOT,
extinguisher and a few not having display signs among other 2020). The most reliable form of leak detection is the auto-
reasons. matic tank gauging which employs sensors that can detect a
leak of 0.2 gallons per hour with 95% probability of detection
Table 3. Physical assessment of PFS by observation and with a false alarm rate of 5% (VEEDER-ROOT, 2020).
S/N Indicator Number Percentage Emergency Test Stop (ETS) is a safety system design to shut
complied complied off power supply to all fuel pumps in an event of emergency.
1. Display of “No 13 68.4 The results showed that, 15 of the 19 stations have working
Smoking” Sign. ETS systems (Table 3). Out of this, 12 do not check at all if
2. Display of “In and 12 63.2 their ETS systems are functioning properly. Only 1 out of 15
Exit” Signs. check the ETS system daily and 2 check monthly. An aver-
3. Display of “Switch 14 73.7 age score of 43.5% is awarded to the PFSs in terms of their
Off Engine” Sign. routine practices. This very poor performance is attributed to
4. Visibility of fire 19 100 the unwillingness of the PFSs to check their leakage detection
extinguisher. and ETS systems on regular basis.
5. Availability of 10 52.3
Table 4. Assessment of PFSs based on routine practices
compressed CO2 .
6. Availability of foam 19 100 S/N Indicator Number Percentage
(9 litres) or 6 kg complied complied
chemical powder. 1. No incidence of fire 15 78.9
7. Closeness of fire 19 100 outbreak.
extinguisher to 2. ≤Six (6) months 12 63.2
pump. maintenance of fire
8. Fire extinguisher to 13 68.4 extinguisher.
dispenser ratio 3. Monthly checking 1 25.0
(1:1). of Leakage System.
9. Availability of Sand 16 84.2 4. Daily checking of 1 6.7
in Bucket. Emergency Test
10. Availability of 4 21.0 Stop.
leakage detection Average Percentage Compliance 43.5
system.
11. Availability of 15 78.9
Emergency Test
Assessment based on measurement
Stop.
According to the EPA executive director as reported by Joy
12. No observable oil 16 84.2
News (Myjoyonline, 2017), there is no legal distance for
spills.
siting PFSs in residential areas. However, for locations where
Average Percentage Compliance 74.5
masses congregate such as markets, hospitals, schools, etc a
safe distance of 60 m is used. In the study, it was observed
that some of the PFSs share direct boundary walls with other
Assessment of PFSs based on routine practices facilities. The PFS immediate environment is an unsafe zone
It is required that PFSs routinely perform certain tasks to due to the possibility of fire outbreak and release of hazardous
enhance their safety. A summary of interview results from at- chemicals.
tendants who had worked at a PFS for at least a year is shown As a result, an unsafe distance of 30 m was adopted to assess
in Table 4 and it indicates that fifteen PFSs (78.9%) have had the possibility of fire hazard within the vicinity of the PFS
no fire incidence. Those who reported on fire incidences la- and the preparedness level of nearby residents to combat fire.
beled them as “minor issue” as the fires were quickly managed. Figure 3 illustrates a bar chart of results obtained from the
It is clear from the result that twelve PFSs (63.2%) carry out measurement of PFSs facilities and it suggests that only 21%
regular maintenance on their fire extinguishers within the last met the required standard wall height of 3 m. About 58%
six months while the rest did it after six months. Furthermore, of the PFSs met the set distance of ≥30 m from the PFS to

Journal of Ghana Science Association, Volume 20(2), 2021 Date of Publication: 10 July 2022
Petrol filling station safety assessment and fire safety knowledge of fuel pump attendants
Table 5. Safety attributes of owners of facilities less than 30 m from FFS
S/N Indicator
1. Years stayed within vicinity.
2. Awareness of unsafe zone.
3. Awareness of fire hazards.
4. Why residence is close to PFS.
Dangers associated with PFS known.
5. Witnessed fire incident in or around facility.
6. Availability of fire extinguisher.
7. Knowledge on fire extinguisher usage.
8. Knowledge of fire emergency contact.
Figure 3. Physical assessment of PFSs by measurement
a nearby residential or commercial facility and 68.4% also
satisfied the 10 m distance from the UST to the dispenser.
These results are consistent with those of Nouri et al. (2010)
who sampled 59 PFSs in Tehran (Iran) and Afolabi (2011)
who surveyed 54 PFSs in Ile-Ife (Nigeria). Both reports con-
cluded that most of the stations sampled did not comply with
regulatory standards or lacked the fundamentals to operate.
Demographics and fire hazard knowledge level of resi-
dents close to PFSs
Analysis of demographic composition of owners of facility
located within 30 m radius is to solely determine the character-
istics of owners. The age group of respondents (owners) con-
sists of 22.2% between 40–49 years, 22.2% between 50–59
years and 55.6% above 60 years. The sex of the respondents
was made up of 88.9% male and their highest level of educa-
tion was determined as 44.4% having basic education, 22.2%
with secondary education and 33.4% having tertiary education.
Table 5 shows the summary of results from the interviews and
it indicates that 22.2% had lived within the vicinity of the
PFSs for <5 years, 22.2% for 5–10 years and 55.6% above
10 years. About 77.8% residential and 22.2% commercial
Journal of Ghana Science Association, Volume 20(2), 2021
Anang et al. — 52/54
Characteristics Number Percentage
<5 years 2 22.2
Between 5 – 10 years 2 22.2
Above 10 years 5 55.6
Yes 8 88.9
Yes 9 100
Resident before PFS set up 5 55.6
Did not consider PFS 1 11.1
3 33.3
No 8 88.9
Yes 0 0.00
Yes 1 11.1
Yes 3 33.3
(Pharmacy shops) facilities were identified within the 30 m
bracket of the 8 PFSs. Eight (8) respondents including those
with primary education were aware their facilities reside in
an unsafe zone while only one with primary education was
unaware of the unsafe zone of their facility. All respondents
confirmed their awareness of activities that could result in fire
disasters. When quizzed on why their residences were close
to PFSs, 55.6% posited to be resident before the setting up of
the filling stations, duly informed the appropriate authorities
about the closeness of new PFSs to their homes but the author-
ities did not act. The respondents further stressed the need for
the PFSs to be closed down. Also, 11.1% did not consider the
station before moving to the vicinity and 33.3% admitted to
the dangers associated with petrol filling stations but moved in
anyway. About 11.1% of the respondents witnessed some fire
incidents in their facility while 88.9% did not experience any
fire incident. Knowing how unsafe the zone is, it would be pru-
dent for residents to be armed with fire extinguishers in their
homes. Strangely, none of the facilities (residents and shops)
studied had fire extinguishers. Furthermore, only 11.1% had
knowledge on the use of fire extinguisher. Finally, only a third
of respondents were aware of the emergency contact numbers
of GNFS. In a similar study, Nang et al. (2019), reported the
operations of PFSs in the Kassena-Nankana district (Ghana)
by measuring distances between PFS UST and the nearest
facility. Out of the sixty-seven (67) facilities recorded within
100 m radius, the heads of fifty (50) were interviewed. The
study revealed that there was high level of awareness and
knowledge among the respondents relating to the dangers of
siting PFSs in the area even though they did not take any
action to inform local authorities. Also, (Mshelia et al., 2015)
evaluated the environmental effects of 35 PFSs within 100 m
radius of residential buildings in Maiduguri and Jere in Nige-
ria. They reported that most PFSs did not adhere to guidelines
for siting PFSs and they have become a source of hazard for
residents.
Date of Publication: 10 July 2022
Petrol filling station safety assessment and fire safety knowledge of fuel pump attendants
Conclusion
The increasing demand for petroleum products has caused an
exponential increase in fuel filling stations worldwide. The
disregard for regulatory standards in set-up and operation of
the stations may be worrying owing to accidents in the past.
The fire safety preparedness level of 45 fuel pump attendants
and the activities of all 19 active PFSs in the Ho municipality
of Ghana were assessed. Pump attendants in the municipality
demonstrate high level of knowledge regarding potential fire
hazards in the work environment. However, there were safety
and regulatory breaches regarding the set-up and operation of
some PFSs in the locality which include; minimum distance
from residential facilities and PFS wall height. Some PFSs do
not display signs like “Switch Off Engine”, “No Smoking”,
“In and Exit”, etc. while majority do not have leakage detec-
tion systems. Most PFSs do not service fire extinguishers and
check emergency test stop systems regularly. The safety of
residents and the stations was not considered in granting per-
mit to some of the stations to operate. The assessments clearly
showed that though pump attendants possess the knowledge to
avoid fires at the stations, PFSs in the Ho municipality (a less
populated area) breach several mandatory regulations similar
to what is reported in major cities. It can be concluded that not
all PFSs in the locality are unsafe. The local authorities are
encouraged to seriously monitor the activities of the 8 PFSs
within the 30 m radius in the locality.
Recommendation
The following recommendations are proposed from this re-
search work;
1. Regulatory bodies should revisit and review the permit
of the PFSs in the municipality.
2. OMCs must provide proper training to all employees
in fire safety before commencement of work and there
should be refresher and annual trainings so that employ-
ees will be abreast with new and current methods in fire
safety and prevention.
3. OMCs must be properly monitored to make sure they
adhere to required safety protocols.
4. Non-compliance to safety regulations must be investi-
gated and appropriate measures taken.
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