Northern Ireland Region MAG has sent out dozens of letters to local Home Heating Oil suppliers and haulers in a bid to ask for assistance in combating
deadly oil spills on our roads.
Concerns were brought to light after the inspection of a tanker from one of the province’s major Petrol & Diesel Distributors
based on the Airport Road, Belfast. It seems that so-called “rainwater channels” on the tops of tankers are fed across the surface of the unit and down inside the legs
of the ladder on the back directly onto the road surface!
However, further investigation also highlighted that most, if not all, of the major oil companies no longer
“Top Load” their units, but have the grades pumped in from the bottom of the tanks whilst any fumes are drawn off in the Vapour Recovery process.
This
significantly reduces the threat of spills on top of the tanker mixing with rain and finding their way onto our roads. The Health and Safety Executive had been here long before us
to introduce
legislation, which no longer permitted top loading or indeed even an employee being on top of a tanker unit for whatever reason.
Now reports lead us
to believe that said legislation has been HALTED as the conversion costs of tankers from top to bottom loading were so high that the prospect arose of putting smaller companies
(such as Home Heating Oil Distributors) out of business.
A few prompt phone calls soon confirmed that a vast proportion of local distributors are indeed top loading their
product albeit under stringent Health and Safety guidelines. This leads us to the conclusion that any spills on top of these tankers eventually find their way with rainwater onto
a network of local roads and roundabouts. One tanker driver, who for obvious reasons wishes to remain nameless, commented that minor spills occur on top of the tankers on a daily
basis. When asked how minor these spills were he stated “2 LITRES was a possibility.”
“Its obviously fair to assume that some of these deadly spills are
to blame for spiraling insurance costs, not to mention the potential serious injury of road users”
Adrian Colville of Two Wheel Recovery added “On average
T.W.R would collect one damaged bike per fortnight due to an accident occurring from oil spills on our roads.”
We have written to countless Oil Distributors asking
for their help to combat this potentially lethal situation. As an enticement to take action we have asked for those willing to support the Kill Spills campaign to forward us a
digital photograph, by email, of one of their employees attaching an enclosed “MAG Don’t Overfill” sticker to one of their lorries (e.g. on driver window).
In return we aim to have a Press Release in June 04 highlighting the dangers of Oil on the roads and featuring the Oil Companies who consider Road Safety a priority in the day
to day running of their business.
