The Petrol Retail Safety Passport ensures that contractors working on petrol retail forecourts understand the risks involved. The scheme is managed by the Safety Pass Alliance (SPA) and overseen by the by the Petrol Retail National Steering Group (PRNSG) whose members include contractors, trade associations, Cogent, forecourt operators organisations such as BP and Esso as well as numerous supermarkets. The PRNSG meet regularly and the passport has been in circulation since 2001.
Contractors are an integral part of the everyday workforce and retail forecourt owners and operators have a responsibility to them as well as their fulltime employees. As a responsible industry, access to training of the highest standard is available to enable contractors to work safely minimising risk to themselves and others. Failure to ensure the safety of contractors or employees could result in prosecution or in the worse cases Corporate Manslaughter charges.
The Passport scheme has resulted in positive feedback from the industry. Russell Best, HSE Advisor at JET says: “We require that any contractor employed by JET to work on a forecourt holds a valid Forecourt Passport, this gives assurance that anyone working on our behalf has the same understanding of the hazards of working on a forecourt and the behaviours expected of them. We would encourage all Forecourt operators to check that anyone working on their site has a valid passport”.
There are currently over 18,700 valid Petroleum Retail Passports in circulation across the UK, with numbers continuing to rise. The safety passport is undertaken as a 2 day course and is valid for 3 years. Contractors then have the option to take a 1 day renewal course ( which can be taken up to 6 months before the expiry of their current passport). Completion of refresher training is cost and time efficient for employers, and ensures that the level of competency is maintained.
For retail site operators and owners the SPA Petrol Retail Safety Passport provides assurance that holders have been trained by approved trainers; have received consistent levels of knowledge and have been tested to confirm their understanding. The training aims to advance delegates knowledge of safe working practices, improve behaviours and attitudes as demanded by industry and raises awareness of the implications of accidents.
Forecourt Managers should always ensure that contractors working on their site hold a current SPA passport – if in doubt contact SPA Administration for clarification:
Visit www.safetypassports.co.uk or call on 01926 817450.