Risk Assessment for Workplace Health and Safety in Fuel Station

This assignment aims to highlight workplace health and safety prevailing in the fuel station as analysed from the perspective of the customer service attendant (CSA). The assignment will follow six steps of risk assessment as proper by the government of Canberra. The assignment will also cite hierarchy of risk control as framed by University of Sydney.

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Risk Assessment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
Workplace health and safety (WHS) is frequently referred to as Occupational Health
and Safety (OH&S) which deals with assessment and mitigation of the risks at the work place
that has potential to impact on health, safety and welfare of the people in the workplace. This
mostly encompasses the service users, the service providers and the other stake holders like
suppliers, contractors and volunteers (Government of Australia, 2018). The following
assignment aims to highlight workplace health and safety prevailing in the fuel station as
analysed from the perspective of the customer service attendant (CSA). In analysing the
workplace health and safety, the assignment will follow six steps of risk assessment as proper
by the government of Canberra (Government of Australia Capital Territory, 2018). The
assignment will also cite hierarchy of risk control as framed by University of Sydney
(University of Sydney, 2018).
Workplace Health and Safety in Fuel Station
Fuel station or petrol filling stations store and handle large amount of hazardous
substances and thus present unique hazards due to high rate of inflammability of the products.
In order to comprehensively manage the risk of dispensing fuel safely, the CSA or the service
station manager must manage and maintain the fuel station in accordance to the work place
health and safety legislations (Department of Environment and Climate Change [DECC]
NSW, 2018).
Policies of workplace Health and Safety
According to Government of Australia Capital Territory (2018), the main risk
management process has six important steps and these includes hazard identification,

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identification of risk, assessment of risk, control of risk, documentation of process and proper
monitoring and review.
Figure: Risk Assessment for Health and Safety in Workplace
(Source: Safe Work Australia, 2011)
Identification of the hazard is done on the basis of work design, equipment used, and
the physical work environment. In Fuel station, common hazard arise from hazardous
chemical and mechanical equipment.

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Figure: Common example of hazards
Source: (Source: Safe Work Australia, 2011)
In order to find hazards proper inspection of the workplace is required to be
undertaken. The best time for inspection include work activity hours. Safe Work Australia
(2011) is of the opinion that in order to access hazards, proper questions must be framed and
based on this; hierarchy of the risk control is required to be done.

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Figure: Hierarchy of risk assessment
(Source: Safe Work Australia, 2011)

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The risk assessment done in the fuel station by CSA
Task or
scenario
Hazard/s Associated harm, e.g.
what could go wrong?
Existing Risk
Controls Current risk
rating
Any additional controls
are required?1
Residual risk
rating
Storage of fuel
Storage tanks and
dispense pumps are
not adequately
monitored
Unwanted spillage of
fuel and hazards to
newly recruited
employee
Use of warning
signs and marking
over the storage
tanks
Very high  Proper training of the
staffs
 Proper monitoring of
the dispense pumps
 Design and installation
of underground
petroleum storage
system
Low risk
Movement of the
vehicle
Accident from
collision with other
cars, structures and
people
Damage to the care
and threat to fire
ignition due to
collision
Display of traffic
information and
warning signs
which sets out the
traffic control
requirement
Very high  Framing safe traffic
system: one-way
system for entry and
another way for exist
of the vehicles
Low risk
1

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 Providing designated
parking area close to
the fuel pump
Manual
manoeuvring in
the Forecourt
design
Slips, trips and fall
due to the presence of
fuel trace over the
ground surface
Injury of the staffs Training of the
staffs with minor
fuel slippage
Very high  Covering the ground
surface with uneven
tiles or sand to ensure
traction
 Providing the staffs
shoes with traction
soles
 Proper drainage
system of the storm
water
Low risk
Fire control in
the fuel station
Outbreak of sudden
fire
Fatal damage to life
and resources
Fire control system
with fire
extinguisher
Very high  Training of the staffs
in effective fire control
 Proper warning signs
of fire
 Prohibition of the use
of cell-phones in fire
station
 Prohibition of the use
inflammable substance
Low risk

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at the fire station

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Explanation of the Risk assessment
Storage of fuel
As per the observation of CSA, the storage tanks are not adequately monitored.
According to DECC NSW (2018), even minor leaks from underground tanks and supply lines
can lead to fatal outcomes. So in order to effective reduce such health and safety concerns
proper installation of the underground storage tank is mandatory. However, even the
underground storage tank leads to leakage that may eventually lead to contamination in
ground water and social which in turn endanger the health and safety of the human race and
other living organisms. Thus it is important that the underground tanks are installed as per the
guidelines of Australian Standard AS 1940 – 2004 and Storage and Handling of Flammable
and Combustible Liquids and AS. As per the guidelines, tanks should not be placed directly in
clay soils as it promotes corrosion rather tanks should be placed under an inert material like
sand. The guidelines also propose installation of sacrificial cathodes in order to increase the
sustainability of the ground-tanks. Proper water table must be used to bury the storage tanks
and this will in turn help to reduce the leakage. Moreover, in order to mitigate the risk of
leakage further, stock inventory monitoring must be done via using tools like statistical
inventory reconciliations analysis (SIRA).
Traffic control
Safe design of the fuel station and driveways can help to prevent crashes and thereby
helping to save lives. According to the Australian safety guidelines for the traffic
management display of traffic information and warning signs which sets out the traffic control
requirement are not enough. The traffic movement must be framed in such a way that there is one-
way system for entry and another way for exist of the vehicles. Other principals include solid

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medians, flush medians, increase in the width of the krebside lane, locating the drive ways clear for
the upcoming queues and proper stopping restrictions.
Table: Recommended techniques for traffic management in fuel stations
(Source: Government of Australia, 2018)
Forecourt design and manoeuvring
The analysis of the forecourt highlighted that the smooth surface with lack of proper
drainage facility has increased the chances of the slips, trip and falls and this may lead to

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increase in the chances of the fatal injuries among the staffs and other stakeholders. Since it is
a potential risk, hence it is important to eliminate the hazard. However, the fuels station
authorises have only taken initiative to minimize the hazards and this includes training of the
staffs to handle such accidents. However, such trainings are not comprehensive in mitigating
the risk. Elimination of the risk of the hazard can be done via designing the ground surface
with high traction covering and providing the staffs with high traction shoes. Department of
Environment and Climate Change [DECC] NSW (2018) are of the opinion that apart from oil
slip, slippage can also occur from rain water and hence the fuel dispensing area must have a
roof top with 10 degree. Moreover, it was found that the storm water drains are located within
the fuel dispensing area. This further invites hazards. The storm water drains must be located
away from the fuel dispensing area with collection pit alarm, which will provide signals when
the waste water level and high. Sand must be used near the vicinity of fuel dispensing area in
order to avoid the chances of inflammation and accidental fall.
Figure: Other Recommendation for the Forecourt Design
(Source: DECC NSW, 2018)
Fire control in fuel station
WHS regulation requires proper fire protection and fire fighting equipments for the
types and the kind s of hazards chemicals have at the workplace. The WHS is of the opinion

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that there must be 9 Kg ABC (powder type) extinguisher installed near the dispensers or
minimum of one extinguisher per dispensing bay. However, installations of extinguishers are
not enough. As per the observation of CSA, the fire extinguishers at the surveyed fuel station
is not maintained properly. The WHS regulations propose for maintenance of the fire
extinguishers via maintaining routine service records. The date of manufacture and the date
of the last pressure test must be noted down in a legible format. The staffs must also be
trained regarding how to effectively manage fire during emergency.
Figure: Maintenance of the Fire-extinguishers
(Source: Queensland Government, 2012)
Other recommendation in order control fire at the fuel station include prohibition of
the use of the cell phones in the vicinity of the petrol pumps and prohibition of inflammable
acts like smoking in the fuel station. This will help in the establishment of safe work practice
and thereby minimizing the risk and the size of the hazards (Jadhav et al., 2014).

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Awareness of vulnerable group
The main vulnerable groups in fuel stations are the staffs belonging from aboriginals
or the Torres Strait Islanders community (Brown et al., 2013). However, there are
communication barriers among the aboriginals and the Australian originals and thereby
increasing the concern for health and safety in workplace. The aboriginals are not well versed
in English language (Munro & Mushin, 2016). Thus, the instructions must be presented with
signs and symbols apart from noting it down in sentences. For example, the traffic symbols,
hazard symbols, the tank refilling indicators or the safety monitoring indicators. Not only
this, the aboriginals are required to be educated, regarding which the message communicated
via each symbol so that it becomes easier for them to understand and work accordingly.
Figure: Common hazard symbols and their meanings

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(Source: Easty et al., 2015)
Conclusion
Thus from the above discussion, it can be concluded that abiding by the risk
assessment framework in a fuel station in Australia via CSA, highlighted high risk workplace
health and safety hazards in the domain of storage of fuel, traffic movements, forecourt
design and effective fire control policies. However, elimination of hazard is not possible in a
comprehensive manner but mitigation of risk can certain be executed. This mitigation of risk
can be done via minimizing the size and volume of the hazard, establishing safe work
practice and via providing proper training and detailed supervision. Some of the proposed
recommendation apart from the staffs training and supervision include installation of
underground petroleum storage system, maintenance of proper traffic management system,
proper water drainage and maintaining traction of the forecourt and proper fire control
policies and maintenance of fire equipments. Apart from this, the vulnerable population like
the aboriginals or the Torres Strait Islanders who are working as staffs in the fuel station are
required to trained via taking special attention to gap in understanding English language and
use of symbols in understanding the instructions.

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References
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