A working group of forecourt operators led by the PRA is putting together a best practice guide for running unmanned sites. This follows an investigation into the death of a 48-year-old man who doused himself with petrol and set himself alight at a Tesco site monitored remotely in Manchester nearly two years ago.
The coroner had warned that “future deaths will occur”, flagging how the victim, Afolabi Ojerinde, was able to purchase the petrol at the pump at the Blackley filling station unhindered, despite being without a motor vehicle, or even an authorised plastic or metal container.
While there are only 285 totally automated forecourts operating in the UK, according to MyAutomate, the provider of the PetrolPrices app, many more petrol stations are switching to unmanned overnight operations when business is quieter, so that owners can afford to operate 24-hours.
Other more remote locations are operating fully automated because their level of trade does not merit employing on-site staff.
According to the Red Guide, the industry bible on operating sites safely, automated sites must put in place a form of monitoring. This includes unmanned sites overnight with requirements for remote monitoring via a control centre, or an adjacent premises which has direct vision of the forecourt, or live CCTV continuously observed.
Essentially, a procedure should be in place so that monitoring of the site will pick up on suspicious activity or an incident on the forecourt, and when there is a problem to communicate via the public address system. A responsible individual should attend the site within a five minute target of an emergency.
The idea is that the working group, which is due to meet in the coming weeks, will provide industry with supplementary guidance on the management of unmanned sites by the end of the year, says the PRA’s technical manager Clare Scawthorn.
“It’s still in its infancy at first draft, but the purpose of the additional guidance is to create a best practice guide to the management of sites which operate on an unmanned basis. It will include additional guidance on setting up unmanned operations, establishing monitoring and emergency procedures, management oversight and reviews,” she says.
Once completed, the Petroleum Enforcement Liaison Group, which owns the Red Guide, will present the document as supplementary national guidance.
