Gasoline Station
Attendants To Receive
Training That Includes
Accident Simulation
The Cuerpo de Bomberos
(fire department) with a
donation by gasoline
retailer, Shell, have
established the first
simulated gas station to
train gas station
attendants for
emergencies and to
prevent gasoline station
accidents.
The simulator was built
by the Academia Nacional
de Bomberos and is
located in San Antonio
de Desamaparados, where
some 3.000 "pistoleros"
- gas station attendants
- from the 364 gasoline
stations around the
country are expected to
receive their training.
Héctor Chaves, director
of the Cuerpo de
Bomberos, explained that
the preventive course is
another tool to ensure
safety at gas stations
and that employees are
ready in the event of an
emergency.
Daniel Arauz, manager of
Shell, said that the
training program will
begin immediately and
that the plan is that
all pistoleros visit the
simulator at least once
a year and that the
course reinforces the
training manual which
has been recently
created.
In costa Rica there are
no self-serve gasoline
stations, as gasoline
retailers insist on
their personnel to pump
gas, citing safety as
the key issue.
The objective of the
simulator and the
training course is to
prevent accidents as
personnel are training
in the basic handling of
chemical fires,
hydraulic spills, and
the safe management of
dangerous materials with
emphasis on safety and
health concerns.
The announcement to
create a training
program was made in
November 2006 when two
small children where
burned to death in a
Shell station fire in
downtown Escazú.
Two explosions at the
Shell gasoline station
on the morning of
Saturday October 29,
2006, at 8:45am, (see
original story)
shocked the
neighbourhood and caused
the death of the two
children. The explosion,
according to
investigators for
Instituto Nacional de
Seguros (INS), occurred
when a station attendant
was changing a filter in
a gas pump.
The training program,
according to Arauz, will
also include the
handling of fire
control, spill control
and gasoline station
procedures and a plan of
action in the case of an
accident and a response
action in a simulate
accident.
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