Professional refuelling

Humour me a moment—while you’re filling your gas tank, do you fret over what would happen if you spilled a bit of fuel? Do you sweat over the impact it would have on the environment, the facility employees or their insurance rates? Of course not. You think about other things. And so does everyone else, right? Okay, now consider the daily refuelling of huge fleets of trucks or the equipment spread over large construction sites. Multiply that small chance of spill by the thousands of litres, the hundreds of tanks and all those operators thinking about other things while they fuel.

It’s stating the obvious to say that all this poses enormous risk to employees and the environment. But what’s less obvious is the impact this has on productivity, employee health, insurance rates and the staggering costs of cleaning up a fuel spill.

Transport and construction companies rely on three methods of refuelling. The first is commercial card-locks, which are time-consuming—about 20 minutes per fill. But they are a relatively safe alternative as long as drivers pay attention. Most fuel spills at card-locks occur after a long day and in most cases the station absorbs the cost of a small clean-up. But if it’s a large spill, the clean up is on your tab and it sometimes involves environmental inspectors.

The second method of refuelling is site storage tanks. This eliminates the loss of time spent travelling to card locks but bring a new set of drawbacks. Keeping the tank full is the first concern; if you don’t have remote monitoring and it runs dry, you’re back to the card-lock and losing time again. But the biggest risk is in using it. Every fuelling exposes your staff, the environment and you to considerable risk. If your dispensing equipment is old, if you don’t have detailed procedures or don’t carry out regular training, a costly spill is inevitable. I don’t mean only large spills that bring whopping environmental clean-up bills and huge hikes to your insurance rates. I also mean the odd small spills that create cumulative contamination and bring huge clean-up costs not covered by most insurance companies.

Fuel is toxic—it’s hazardous to employees and the environment—but spilling it is even more dangerous, to your bottom line and your insurance premiums

Over the years we’ve been told of hundreds of refuelling catastrophes. In one case, a truck driver started filling his truck after a long day on the road and fell asleep, allowing thousands of litres to flood the area a foot deep in diesel. It gets worse. Instead of carefully removing the contaminated soil to protect the ground water and the community, the owners ploughed the fuel into the ground. But none of this had to happen.

The third method of refuelling is professional fuel delivery. Wheel-to-wheel service puts fuel in the hands of professionals. Many companies provide safe, reliable refuelling done by specially trained and certified refuelling professionals. The best part is, fuelling can be done while your trucks are parked and your equipment is idle—unlike tanks and card-locks that interrupt your productivity, wheel-to-wheel improves it. And there’s no daydreaming with these guys. When they fill a tank, their only thought is to do it safely.

Wheel-to-wheel is the safest, most convenient and reliable way to get fuel—and it pays back dividends.

With wheel-to-wheel fuel delivery, professional operators are specially trained to minimize risk to employees, equipment and the environment. Compared to card-locks, you save time otherwise lost on trips to card-locks. Compared to site fuel tanks, you save money otherwise spent maintaining tanks and premiums for emergency service. But in both cases, wheel-to-wheel can save you thousands of dollars associated with spills, clean ups and insurance premiums.

Using wheel-to-wheel and getting rid of your site fuel tank substantially reduces your environmental risk exposure. If you’ve ever had to clean up a spill, you’ll also know the high cost of the rates that follow for years after. Avoiding this cost can represent tens of thousands of dollars. And the insurance experts agree.

Richard Frost is the Loss Prevention Coordinator for National Accounts and Associations at Federated Insurance Company of Canada, a leading property and casualty insurer of businesses across Canada. Mr. Frost tells me, “A business using professional refuelling services substantially reduces their exposure to costly fuel spill remediation. If your people aren’t handling the fuel, they aren’t spilling it either. The difference is, a top-performing wheel-to-wheel provider with professionally trained drivers like 4Refuel has a 0.001% incident rate backed up with a stellar clean up record. But if your drivers are filling at card-locks or in your yard, the risk of a spill is considerably higher and so are all the associated costs.”

If all this doesn’t make a dent, then consider this: professional fuelling makes you green without even trying. And it even saves you money. Your company can proudly take its place in the Green Revolution for the reduced environmental risk and lower overall GHG output of wheel to wheel. And guess what? You can promote your new green philosophy to employees, clients and the community. It’s known to help you attract and keep the best people, too.