Lessons from the Fuel Shortage
By Holly Westerfield
As we all know, there was a disruption in the fuel pipeline this month which lead to a fuel shortage in many places in the southern United States. While many people remained calm and behave rationally, many other people panicked. Which lead to situations like this nationwide.
So we thought this might be a good opportunity to remind everyone of the importance of approved containers.
Fuel containers are approved and enforced by governmental bodies like the EPA, OSHA, and DOT. They must be made of a compatible material and safe designs.
How to tell the difference
Approved containers will list their approval status on the side of the actual container. One way to tell from a distance is the size of the container. Approved containers will be no more than 5 gallons. Anything bigger than that is not an approved container. For the average customer, this shouldn’t be an issue. However, some customers may think they can save money by skipping the approved containers and filling up a milk jug, buckets, or plastic bags instead.
Why it matters
We have approved containers for a reason. People may think they are being thrifty by storing fuel in buckets, plastic bags, milk jugs, or plastic totes, but in reality they are just wasting fuel, losing money, and putting themselves in genuine danger.
For starters, gasoline will eat through many types of plastic. Approved containers are made of compatible plastics that will not interact with the fuel. The same can not be said about whatever random container a customer brings in. If they do not use the correct containers, they may end up with a melted container and a whole bunch of spilled gas just sloshing around the floor of their car.
Incompatibility is not the only danger involved with using unapproved containers for storing and transporting fuel. Gasoline can evaporate extremely quickly, and not every container is designed to be entirely airtight. In the best-case scenario, a majority of the product evaporates long before it ever gets to its intended destination and their vehicle will smell like gas for weeks. In the worst-case scenario, they have essentially turned their car into a fireball on wheels.
Even if the gas gets to its destination safely, that doesn’t mean the danger has passed. Approved gas containers are designed to safely dispense the fuel as well as store it. Using unapproved containers like plastic totes or grocery bags leads to a messy and potentially dangerous dispensing experience. After all, it only takes a little static shock to start a dangerous fire.
Remind your employees that they should never allow a customer to fill an unapproved container. Using an approved container is a requirement, not an option.
In summary, the most important thing to remember is Don’t Panic. The customers who purchased trailers full of fuel not only made the situation exponentially worse for everyone else, they also wasted their time and money, potentially wasted a significant amount of fuel, and put their lives in genuine danger. Enforce safe fueling practices at your facility, you just may save a life.