Before any contractors start work you will need to satisfy yourself that they are capable of undertaking the work and can carry it out in a safe manner. Speak to them before work begins and make sure they are aware of the rules and requirements at your site. Depending on the work to be carried out a contractor may need to know about:
a) the hazardous nature of petrol, the need to control ignition sources, and the location of hazardous areas;
b) your own operating procedures, so they can comply with them as necessary;
c) the location of underground tanks and pipework;
d) any other work that may be taking place whilst they are on site;
e) the location of underground services, ie conduits for electrical supplies to dispensers and car washes etc and the site’s main electrical supply cable, gas and water supplies; and
f) items, equipment or information necessary for health and safety.
8) You and your contractor should be clear about:
a) how your operations will affect each other’s work.
b) who is responsible for managing the work on site and controlling sub-contractors;
and
timing and segregation of work to ensure that the activities of one person do not create risks for another.
9) In some circumstances it may be necessary to stop a particular activity, such as petrol offloading or dispensing in the area where contractors are working.
This might also be necessary where the layout of your petrol station means that contractors working adjacent to the site could present a risk. Finalise arrangements with the contractors when they arrive on site. Make sure that there is no doubt about how health and safety will be managed during their work.
10) Failure to take account of a contractor’s work can have serious consequences.
For example, at one site in Leeds, contractors were carrying out alterations to offloading pipework. A road tanker delivered 5,000 litres of petrol into the off-set fill pipe of a tank on the site. The contractors had disconnected this pipe and hundreds of litres of petrol escaped into the ground before the competent person and the driver realised the mistake. As a result the public were put at high risk and the environment was affected, resulting in adverse publicity and a high-cost clean-up operation. This incident could have been avoided by preparing a work plan describing the procedure for deliveries to be carried out safely or, alternatively, postponing deliveries until the alterations were complete.
SAFETY METHOD STATEMENTS
11) One way of ensuring safe working at petrol stations during construction or maintenance is to use a detailed Safety Method Statement (SMS) for each particular task. This should identify the problems and solutions concerning the tasks. It is a useful tool for ensuring that work is carried out safely. An SMS can range from a simple statement to a detailed technical document depending on the scale of the task(s) involved. The purpose of the SMS is to identify the hazards associated with each task and specify the necessary precautions to control them.
12) Responsibility for drawing up the SMS lies with the contractor, who should, if necessary, act in conjunction with you regarding site details, specific precautions or specialist information. The SMS should clearly show that all of the hazards have been identified and will be correctly dealt with.
PERMIT-TO-WORK SYSTEMS
13) Some maintenance or repair work will be high risk because it has the potential to cause a serious accident, such as the removal of a storage tank lid. These tasks need to be carefully controlled and planned. A permit-to-work system is a structured way to make sure these activities are done safely.
14) A permit-to-work is a formal written means of making sure that potentially dangerous tasks are approached and carried out using only the correct safety procedures. It is not merely permission to carry out work, but can also help to ensure that these activities are done safely. It should cover all foreseeable events.
15) You and your contractor can get further information on permit to work systems in the following Health and Safety Executive’s publications:
a) ‘Permits-to-work in the chemical industry’25 a free leaflet;
b) ‘Guidance on permit-to-work systems in the petroleum industry’ 26 and;
c) Approved Code of Practice and Guidance on ‘Safe Maintenance, Repair and Cleaning Procedures’22
25 Chemical manufacturing Permit-to-work systems IND G 98 HSE Books: free leaflet.
26 Oil Industry Advisory Committee: Guidance on permit-to-work systems in the petroleum industry HSE Books:
ISBN 0 7176 1281 3.
22 Approved Code of Practice and Guidance ‘Safe Maintenance, Repair and Cleaning Procedures (L137)’. HSE Books. (ISBN 0 7176 2202 9)
Section 7 – General Operational Management
Section 8 - Key Activities
8 KEY ACTIVITIES
The following sub-sections of this guidance document identify six key activities that take place at petrol stations. These are:
1. Commissioning;
2. Unloading and venting;
3. Storage;
4. Pipework;
5. Dispensing;
6. Decommissioning.
For each activity, practical advice is given to help you comply with the law. For unloading and venting, storage, pipework and dispensing a simple guide is provided to help you to identify the risks and, where necessary, introduce appropriate control(s).