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Posted By Peter_hse
As a chemist turned H&S professional it's natural for me to reach for the gloves at the petrol station. We have all probably forgotten (particularly with diesel) at some point and had smelly/oily diesel on our skin.
However I have recently noticed that the very thin gloves provided on the forecourts offer virtually no protection whatsoever from the fuel, even for the 2 minutes it takes to fill up the car.
Does anyone have any views on the obligation of the retailer to provide adequate PPE to customers? This would not be allowed in any other business.
I've taken to having a box of nitrile gloves in the boot of the car!
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Posted By Swis
PPE to customer??
Is it friday already.....
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Posted By Peter_hse
Thanks Swis for your 'useful' comment, however my point was an observation requesting views if possible. We normally associate PPE being provided by employers to employees. However in this case a retailer has chosen to provide gloves for customers and my question was, do these need to be adequate?
Many retailers provide equipment for use by customers and the customer has the right to be sure that the equipment is serviceable.
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Posted By Lukasz
Peter
IMO of course petrol station need to provide adequate gloves in that case.
I am not expert and I can not give you info if they are not suitable for contact with fuel (for longer contact probably not).
But please observe that you do not have direct contact with fuel and you are not keeping hand for 2 minutes in fuel but only keeping part which is often dirty.
Personally I never thought about that as a problem and not always I am using these gloves.
From other side Safety Data Sheet for gas oil which company in which I work use(this one on petrol station will different but IMO similar) states that R66 - Repeated exposure may cause skin dryness or cracking.
In that case it is repeated exposure however I am refueling my car about every 2 weeks...
I never observed any signs of dermatitis or irritation on my hands after refueling car.
Regards
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Posted By Chris Packham
Peter
Without knowing which gloves your petrol station was providing it is difficult to comment on suitability.
I presume that you are using the thin, single-use nitrile gloves. These are fine for lubricating oils, diesel. They are less effective with brake fluid, having a nominal permeation breakthrough time of around 10 - 15 mins. Permeation breakthrough with petrol will be considerably less. However, given that the actual contact in terms of extent and duration when filling a motor vehicle I would be happy to see them being used for petrol.
Of course, you need to know how to take them off properly, otherwise you can contaminate your hands with what is on the outside of the glove. Just stand on a forecourt and watch the average person removing the gloves to see what I mean!
Chris
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Posted By Ron Hunter
In my experience the glove dispenser is usually empty, not due to the negligence of the PFS, rather because people steal them.
On that basis, probably unlikely the industry will want to provide anything better than these flimsy single-use articles.
A better bet would be for PFS to have a robust dispenser cleaning regime (something better than a water wash once in a blue moon) and free and ready access to hot water and soap.
Chris is of course spot-on regarding the average Joe approach to removing gloves.
Above all else, if the PFS you use regularly has dirty/contaminated dispensers, then make a constructive compliant - particularly if they also sell foodstuffs!
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Posted By Leo26
WHY.....are the gloves provided in the first place?
I would imagine its more in line with historic complaints from customers rather than any duty to protect customers from any adverse effects from the smelly stuff!
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Posted By Andy Petrie
I think these are provided to stop peoples hands getting dirty and then transferring it to their clothes rather than as PPE.
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Posted By Chris Packham
Initially the gloves were provided to prevent the smell of the fuel being transferred to the hands, particularly obnoxious and persistent with diesel.
Chris
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Posted By Pete48
I always considered that they were provided shortly after the use of "diesel" became more commonplace for cars and private vehicles. It was in response to customer complaints regarding the rather nasty and pervasive smell which as we know lingers even with only small amounts.
As one who worked with gas oil and DERV for many years I can vouch for its power to clear a space at the bar at the end of hard shift!LOL
If indeed there is a quantifiable risk from contact that might require protection through the use of gloves one might suppose that means to prevent contact rather than rely upon gloves would have been required by standard.
The potential of relying upon customers to use gloves properly in order to prevent a harmful exposure would look like a step too far for the corporate lawyers methinks???
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Posted By Ron Hunter
Remember when Petrol Stations weren't self-service? Happy Days!
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Posted By Phil Rose
Aside from the original post asking about the gloves for petrol stations, I was interested in Swis's comment "PPE to customer??"
As already observed, it wasn't a particularly useful comment and I wonder what the 'thinking' was behind it.
I can think of plenty of examples where a customer would be provided with PPE.
Going back to the gloves though, when they are available, they seem to me to provide reasonable protection against the relatively minor risk of any significant contamination.
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Posted By Swis
Phil,
My comments are always in response to questions being asked. (unlike some – who try to answer a question without reading the question.) And for your information I repeat the question again;
Does anyone have any views on the obligation of the retailer to provide adequate PPE to customers?
Maybe you need to learn to read the question before making any remarks on someone’s comment.
Have a good day
Swis
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Posted By Chris Packham
Swis,
In response then to the original question, and at the risk of being shot at, here is my view:
Given that the gloves are not primarily provided as PPE for a health or safety purpose, but are merely to prevent the transfer of an unpleasant odour to the skin, I cannot see where a duty on the part of the filling station might arise. Surely the filling station is providing them as a courtesy to customers?
Chris
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Posted By Phil Rose
Swis - sorry, my apologies. You obviously felt that your contribution was more useful than I did.
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