By Holly Westerfield

Muncie, IN — Tis the season for severe winter weather! Many parts of the country are expecting some snow and cold temperatures this weekend, so we thought this would be a perfect time to remind your employees of the fueling rules they need to enforce to keep themselves, your customers, and the facility safe.

Re-Entering the Vehicle

More people break this rule in the winter than they do at any other time of year. It is especially likely when there are children waiting in the car. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to the customer, but this is the number one source of fire at the pump. When this rule gets ignored, it leads to serious accidents and fires.

Getting in and out of the car will generate static electricity on their body and clothes. When they move to remove the nozzle from the car, this can generate a static spark. If the spark is large enough, it will cause the fuel to ignite. During the winter, mothers are especially vulnerable to this because they are more likely to leave the car running, re-enter the vehicle to watch their children, and be wearing a winter coat, all of which increases the likelihood of static shock.

If they are lucky, all they will have done is accidentally started a fire in their gas tank and created a hazardous situation for everyone involved. If they are unlucky, they may end up fatally setting themselves or their passengers on fire.

If you watch this short clip to the right, you will see an example of this. Notice that the woman in this video didn't need to do anything excessive or unusual for this fire to start. All she did was sit back down for a few moments. But that was enough. She is extremely lucky that the damage was minimal, situations like these often end tragically.

No Smoking or Fire

It should be common sense, but your employees should not let anyone use a lighter while pumping gas or while standing near the dispenser. Gasoline vapors are just as flammable and volatile as the fuel itself. It only takes one spark to create a dangerous situation.

People most commonly break this rule by smoking while pumping gas, but for some reason that’s not the only reason people pull out lighters at the dispenser. Many fires have been started in the past by customers unwisely using lighters while pumping gas. There have been cases of people using lighters to try and melt ice off their frozen gas caps, only to accidentally light their car on fire. By stopping them, your employees will be saving your customer’s car and their life. Customers who notice slow flow due to cold weather have also been known to try and fix the situation by "thawing" the nozzle with a lighter.

This is an extremely bad idea, especially since most gasoline does not freeze until it hits -100 degrees.

Keep the Pad Clear

This one isn’t a fueling rule, but it’s a good idea to prevent accidents during snowy weather. Try to make sure the cement pad and parking lot of your facility is well salted before the weather hits, and try to arrange for it to be frequently shoveled or plowed. Check out the video to the right. See how carefully the driving was going? And yet they still struggled to maintain control of the car. Now imagine that happening at your facility. Allowing ice to accumulate on the pad is like asking your customers to hit the dispenser. Even if your facility has a canopy, still make sure to put down salt. The cars will obviously track in some snow off the street on their tires, and once that snow is compacted into ice you will have a potentially dangerous situation on your hands.