NGO warns against siting food joints within fuel stations

The Ghana Science Association (GSA), a Non - Profit Organization, which offers advice on technical developmental issues, has condemned the practice of siting food joints at fuel stations, saying they could easily cause fire disasters.

“Fuel stations deal with highly combustible materials as such any activity that is likely to spark heat of fire, such as restaurants and kitchens, is a good recipe to trigger a fire event,” the GSA said in a statement.

The statement, signed by Dr Peter Twumasi, President of the Association, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said although the June 3 disaster, in Accra, was preceded by torrential rain, it believed that, “It was mainly caused by human error manifested from sheer negligence and repugnant human culture”.

It said it wondered why the public continued to break the natural and human laws that protected human survival and said all institutions must operate under strict adherence to safety precautions to forestall future preventable catastrophes.

The statement prescribed a number of measures including; the siting of fuel stations about 500 metres away from industrial and residential settings; while all commercial vehicles be fueled before taking passengers on board.

“In a likely event that the vehicle has to be fueled on its journey, passengers must be made to get off before vehicles enter fuel stations,” it advised

Siting fuel Stations close to rivers and waterlogged areas must also be banned, it said.

The statement also said the services of the GSA was available on free offer and recommended that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) regularly access fuel tanks and pumping machines at fuel Stations.

“Fossil fuel pumps to power generators must not be kept in homes,” the statement warned.