Roadside oil spill tragedies can be eliminated for public safety

Recently a petroleum tanker overturned on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway, spilling gasoline. In the process of scooping the petrol, local villagers ignited the volatile liquid resulting in an explosion that killed at least six people.

The incident mirrors a similar incident in the vicinity at Sachangwan in 2010, when more than 100 Kenyans perished. The six deaths were avoidable if safe petroleum management systems (and regulations) were in place and were followed.

Transportation of petroleum products on our roads presents a significant safety risk that requires joint attention from both the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

What are needed are proactive and preventive measures which ensure that all players pre-empt situations that could result in tankers getting into accidents. This entails monitoring the drivers, the trucks, and of course the routes.

After attending to the more urgent areas of road safety (PSV, motor bikes, pedestrians), the regulators can now turn their attention to the equally vulnerable and high impact petroleum transportation.

The first line of attack is to ensure that as much of the petroleum is transported underground in pipelines and where appropriate by railways. This is because petroleum transportation by pipeline and railway is safer than road haulage.

We are aware that Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) has been working on projects to enhance pipeline infrastructure capacity so as to reduce use of road tankers for inter-city and inter-state haulage of petroleum products along the Northern Corridor.

Moreover, by about 2018 when the proposed refinery in Uganda is expected to be commissioned, the number of petroleum trucks on Kenyan highways heading to the Great Lakes countries shall be significantly reduced.

Medium to longer term, KPC may need to analyse the high growth petroleum demand zones that can justify pipeline branches off the main Mombasa-Nairobi-Kisumu-Eldoret supply axis.

One such zone is the Mt Kenya distribution area which serves nine counties, and which accounts for about 25 per cent of total national petroleum demand.

A Nairobi-Nanyuki pipeline branch with depots at Sagana and Nanyuki can significantly reduce the number of trucks trekking to Nairobi to pick petroleum products.

This would greatly reduce opportunities for road accidents. Other similar high demand zones in Kenya can be explored and where economics permit, establish pipeline spurs.

A recent advertisement placed by ERC for petroleum tankers parking yards along the Northern Corridor is a good starting point on the path towards safe petroleum trucking.

The advertisement targets safe parking of trucks and alcohol-free accommodation for the fatigued long-distance tanker drivers. Driver fatigue and poor quality of sleep are major contributors to long-distance truck accidents.

The designated parking yards shall also offer an opportunity for secondary monitoring and enforcement of whatever regulations that will be enacted by both agencies. The primary point of enforcement shall mostly remain at the point of products loading.

I keep emphasising joint NTSA-ERC roles because the primary responsibility for road transportation safety is understandably with NTSA, and we do not wish to see court cases challenging duplicated mandates for regulations and enforcement.

In respect of emergency response when tankers are involved in accidents that result in spills, it is evident that crowd control is quite a challenge, especially when police arrival is delayed.

Driven mainly by poverty (and also adventure) locals usually take dangerous risks when they scoop spilled products. Public awareness campaigns should be intensified. However, emphasis should be on prevention of tanker accidents.

Yes, there are other non-transport potential sources of petroleum infernos, and the Sinai incident in Nairobi’s Industrial Area is still fresh in our memories.

Whereas the Sinai incident was attributed to a spill from the KPC depot, there are many other storage facilities in the same area that can potentially lead to similar incidents.

I have not seen the final investigation report for the Sinai incident, but I would imagine it covered recommendations on future incident prevention. This would essentially include enhanced depot operating and maintenance integrity, especially in areas of spills prevention and control.

It is when the regulatory agencies reassure us that sound standards are in place in all storage depots, that we shall confidently say that risks for a Sinai repeat are reduced. We should also not forget that similar incidents can replicate in Mombasa depots.

Yes, we have recently heard of unlicensed LPG storage and filling operations, some understandably located in populated areas.

The most severe petroleum fire incidents that are known to have happened around the world are associated with bulk LPG storage and transportation. Existence of unlicensed LPG facilities in Kenya implies that the regulators cannot vouch that these facilities are free of fire risks.

As we liberalise the downstream petroleum sector, we need to ensure that safety shall not be compromised. Further, we should develop a good habit of interrogating and benefiting from lessons learned from professionally conducted incident investigations.

Mr Wachira is the director, Petroleum Focus Consultants. Email: [email protected]