Incident at Beau Vallon Service Station |15 May 2014

Dust cloud emit from petroleum pumps

An incident caused what appeared to be smoke to be emitted from one of the petroleum pumps at the Beau Vallon Service Station yesterday.

The incident happened at 7am and in line with the emergency response plan in place, action was swiftly taken with the operator immediately switching off the dispenser and alerting the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency.

The incident was safely put under control within minutes and this was shortly followed by the arrival of officers of the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency and relevant authorities who established that no intervention was necessary.

Upon investigation it was concluded that it was in fact a dust cloud which had been emitted as a result of a loose fan belt in the dispenser unit creating some level of friction which in turn produced the amount of dust. The dispenser was temporarily decommissioned to repair the pump. The problem has now been resolved and all operations are back to normal.
 
The Seychelles Petroleum company has said it will be taking steps to ensure that such incidences are minimised in the future.

The last preventive maintenance on this dispenser unit was done on April 14, 2014 all within its planned schedule.
 
This incident is not deemed to be a fire hazard as the dispenser belt is made entirely from Kevlar – a non-flammable material.