HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
68
Further training and practical assessments are required
annually.
UK terminals are the primary point of enforcement.
Terminals will only issue site-specific loading cards to
those drivers able to demonstrate competency via the PDP.
The PDP is a guarantee of quality assured training
against a standard that terminal operators, distribution
companies, drivers, relevant authorities, and all of those
operating in the petroleum industry can rely on. The PDP
ensures that:
n
Drivers are consistently trained and assessed to a
common, national standard.
n
Employers have a standard they must comply to, in
order to train all drivers, whether training is
delivered in house or externally. The scheme is
linked to ADR and to the driver certificate of
professional competence (CPC). This helps
employers discharge duties under various relevant
health and safety (H&S) legislation through the use
of industry accepted good practice and provides
task specific training and assessment.
n
Terminals know that the PDP means drivers are
appropriately trained and tested; where appropriate
complements terminals’ competence assurance
systems.
n
Retailers know that trained and competent people
are unloading at their site, as required under DSEAR.
n
Training centres have a clear syllabus and strong PDP
approval and assessment process.
n
Industry in general can see reputational
improvement by maintaining consistent standards in
training and safety.
Forecourt contractor safety passport
scheme
Petrol forecourt operations are regulated in the UK by
local authorities, under the petroleum consolidation
regulations (PCR). These require the operator to
demonstrate compliance with DSEAR. These regulations
apply not only to the design, construction and
operation of the site, but also to those people carrying
out work at the site.
The forecourt contractor safety passport scheme
(FCSPS) is a UK wide scheme that ensures that all
contractors working on a forecourt understand the
specific risks associated with the potentially hazardous
products present at a petrol filling station. The scheme
is voluntary, and relies on forecourt owners requiring
that a valid safety passport is held and verified before
any work is allowed to commence. The scheme is
supported and enforced by a majority of the 8500+
petrol forecourts in the UK.
The scheme is an extension to existing core training,
which provides basic information on areas of
responsibility for health, safety and the environment. It
aims to ensure that contractors understand:
n
The properties and hazards associated with petrol
and diesel.
n
Restricted areas on petrol forecourt and explosion
zones.
n
The hazards associated with petrol deliveries,
customers and other contractors.
It also covers how work is controlled at a forecourt
including the need for, and purpose of, safety method
statements, clearance certificates and other appropriate
documentation.
The standards for training are set by the Petrol
Retailers National Steering Group (PRNSG), a group
consisting of retailers, trade associations, forecourt
engineering, service providers and other relevant
stakeholders. PRNSG oversees the operation of the
scheme to ensure that training providers follow the
standards set and deliver high quality training.
The FCSP ensures that contractors:
n
Understand the common hazards associated with
working on a petrol forecourt.
n
Understand the value of risk assessments, their
purpose and recognise when changes to a generic
risk assessment is required.
n
Gain an appreciation of how they can personally
influence good standards within health, safety and
the environment.
Forecourt operator training guidelines
Owing to the nature of the products that they store and
dispense, retail petroleum forecourts have the potential
to be extremely hazardous. Whilst many automated
safeguards are in place to maintain containment of
these products, reliance is placed on the forecourt
operator to ensure that safe practices are being
followed and that an appropriate response is provided
in case of an incident.
Retail forecourts in the UK follow different
ownership models, including company owned company
operated (COCO), company owned dealer operated
(CODO) and dealer owned dealer operated (DODO). As
a result of this diversity and high turnover of staff, it has
been traditionally very difficult to implement a
common, UK-wide competency scheme for retail staff.
The forecourt operator training guidelines (FOTG)
represent a first step towards improving level of
competency among forecourt staff. The PRNSG has
developed guidelines to provide a clear understanding
Figure 3.
Signing in a contractor.
