… As owners of filling stations allegedly abandon safety measures
Following the failure of some owners of filing stations to comply with the fire safety rules, about 120 cases of fire incidents were reported to the Department of Petroleum Resources in 2016.
Operational Controller, Kaduna Zonal Operations Office, DPR, Alhaji Isah Tafida, explained that the way fire incidences were increasing at the filling stations was a clear neglect to increase the compliance to rules and regulations on safety measures and personnel operations..
“Based on our findings, we observed that most of the fire incidences in filling stations were caused by poor attitude and neglect to safety rules and regulations, therefore we have to improve compliance to reduce such incidences.
“Majority of the filling stations, especially those run by independent marketers are dilapidated without fire extinguishers,” he said.
According to him, the issue of hawking at filling stations had turned filling stations into markets despite the dangers associated with such activity of safety of our filling stations.
He warned that such ugly attitude should not be allowed to continue in an environment that is always laden with highly inflammable fluids.
“We call stakeholders to ensure all safety equipment in their filling stations are functional, henceforth hawking and loitering should also be stopped in the stations,” he added.
In his remarks, the representative of the state Fire Service Department, Mr. Abdullahi Jibo, urged owners of filling stations in the state to improve their compliance as regards to safety measures in order to protect r lives and properties.
