Evaluating Environmental Health and Safety Practices among Fuel Station Operators in Ghana’s Petroleum (Downstream) Sector

Abstract

The study assesses service operators’ role and awareness level in environmental health and safety practices in the petroleum (downstream) sector / Fuel Service Station (FSS) in Adentan Municipality in Ghana. A total of 50 managers and workers were used as the sample size for the study, of which 18 were female and 32 were male. The study was a descriptive survey, with a questionnaire as the instrument for data gathering. The final data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like percentages and frequencies through SPSS IBM 27. The two main objectives of the study were to examine the role of operators in participating in environmental health and safety in fuel service stations and to establish the level of awareness of the operators about environmental health and safety. The study revealed that operators of FSS within the petroleum downstream sector have major roles to play in environmental health and safety by enforcing health and safety policies established by law and regulations for Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE). The findings again showed that the level of awareness of the operators on environmental health and safety is very high and paramount in the FSS, as they showed positive concern about worker Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) provision and standardized procedures for investigating and reporting accidents.