TOR educates food vendors on handling naked fire around refinery

A Fire and Explosion Prevention Team from the Tema Oil Refinery has embarked on an education campaign on the dangers of handling naked fire around the refinery.

The team focused their attention on food vendors who sell food at a place popularly referred to as the ‘Bush Canteen’, located very close to the refinery.

Drivers of Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs) popularly referred to as ‘Tankers’ who park their trucks overnight around the refinery were also targeted and asked to evict the refinery frontage due to some unsafe acts they indulge in.

The Public Affairs Manager of TOR, Dr. Kingsley Antwi-Boasiako explained that in the wake of the recent gas explosions that have rocked some parts of Accra, the Management of the refinery thought it wise to take some proactive measures to avert the possibility of any fire or explosion in and around the refinery.

In line with this, the refinery set up a ‘TOR Fire and Explosion Prevention Team’ with the goal of identifying potential sources of fire and explosion in and around the refinery, and taking measures to prevent this from happening.

The team is made up of representatives drawn from the Safety, Maintenance, and Production, Public Affairs, estate, Security and Environment departments in the refinery.

The Safety Manager at TOR, Mr. John Kwamena Montford cautioned the vendors against the use of naked fire and other potential ignition sources due to the proximity of their location to the refinery.

He enlightened the traders that products such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) are difficult to detect when they leak, and can easily cause fire outbreak when it comes into contact with an ignition source.

He advised the vendors to cook from their homes and convey the food to the ‘bush canteen’ to sell.

The Safety Manager said the fire and explosion prevention team would keep a close eye on the activities of the vendors to counter any breach of this directive, and subsequently asked the food vendors to form an association to regulate their activities to ensure that no one goes against this directive.

He said although the bush canteen does not belong to TOR, the refinery would engage the owners of the place and agitate for their removal should anyone be going against the directive.

Meanwhile, drivers of Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVS) who park in front of the refinery have been asked to vacate the area and find elsewhere to park since some activities they indulge in have the potential to cause fire outbreak.

The team had observed that some BRV drivers have been cooking what is known in the local parlance as ‘ataya’, a substance that is believed to energize them and also prevent them from sleeping.

The drivers were informed that the frontage of the refinery has pipelines that carry highly inflammable products, and such an activity could result in a fire outbreak with serious consequences. The team said they were collaborating with the National Tanker Drivers Union in getting the BRV drivers evicted from the refinery frontage