Petrol in the Face

dam,n sounds like u had a close call...... i had a similar thing happen couple of months ago... and about a week ago some left over petrol dripped from hose on to me engine and started to smoke so i legged it inside garage to ask where extinguser was and u know what the reply from the attendent was.......? er dunno where it is mate look for it ur self i was like wtf by this time it stopped smoking and just left it at that.... spoke to one of my mates who works down at fire station bout it next thing i know the attendent is getting a right bollocking from fire guy lol serves him right i guess.....

go carefully when filling ne vehicle up

This sounds nasty- sorry to hear it. I had a fuelling klutz on my bike- luckily nothing like this, but did end up with petrol all over my tank, gloves and jacket. I urged people near me not to light a fag for hours. Took a scrub down and a day for the stink to go...

It's worth thinking of at least a letter re the health and safety aspects of this though- clearly they need to know something's wrong so they can fix it.

I hope you've made a 'fuel' recovery now though. *






* sorry, sorry- I really couldn't resist it! A wisecrack with the best possible intentions!

[Red ones]

Originally Posted by mister c

Here Here. They should have a qualified first aider on site, which should be posted up in the shop. The assistant should have known the drill & got it sorted as soon as poss.
Glad you're ok, that's the main thing, but I would look at getting some legal advice, don't leave it too long.

Bizarrely enough there is no legal obligation to have a First Aider on site.
You could argue that they do have a Duty of Care. You could argue that you have suffered loss/injury. THe question is whether they have a liability. You would need to argue that they accident could be foreseeable and that they were not adequstely prepared (i.e. the out of date / used eye wash). A simple no win no fee case would not be difficult.


Oh - sorry to hear too!

[Balky001]

Red Ones is right but the HSE Gov website (http://www.hse.gov.uk/lau/lacs/65-59a.htm#para20) states

The types of spillages described in paragraphs 'a' and 'b' can be easily dealt with by trained staff using the dry sand or other absorbent material, which should be available. The likelihood of a customer's clothing or skin being contaminated with petrol in the circumstances outlined in paragraph 'c' should not be discounted. Staff should be trained in how to deal with such a situation and there should be facilities available for a customer to wash the affected parts of their body and remove contaminated clothing. Consideration should be given to keeping a supply of disposable cover-all suits for use by customer....

Ignoring customers and teling them they shouldn't sit on a bike when filling up isn't what I'd call adequate training. They also did not appear to offer the basic facilities outlined. Definately a case to pursue.

Very nasty. I got petrol in my face, not my eyes fortunately, and it stung like buggery. I once swallowed some petrol when trying to syphon it out of my father's car. Yeuch, every time I belched (not that I make a habit of it) for a couple of days. I got a reminder.

I managed to splash brake cleaner into one eye an week ago. That buggered the sight in it for an evening - I couldn't focus. It had recovered by the morning. Not recommended.

Messie sorry to hear about your accident. This is a petrol attendent though - not medically trained and doubtful to be 1st aider trained or know even how to "manage" a situation like this so you cant really expect them to step up and take control of the situation - or can you??? With eyes I always go for the water myself - tap, bottle whatever

A very similar thing happened to me.

I went to fill up at Tesco as usual, except the pump i habitually use was taken, so I went to a different one... (wow!)

...now u ahve to press a button to pay at the desk rather than at the pump, so i did, and this normally engages the pump. i was off my bike standing by it, and i had the nozzle in the tank, helmet on and visor up. except this pump the thing didnt engage. i kept squeezing the trigger, and it didnt work, so i turned around to press the button again and the instant i pressed it and sqeezed the trigger it blasted out (normally takes a second to 'fire up'). except the nozzle had moved slightly out so it sprayed off the filler sidewall and up into my face!

i was in such pain momentarily i thought i was going to go blind but i was actually half laughing at the same time to myself because it felt like a trigger happy tv moment it was so rediculous lol.

i had those gloves and helmt off bloody sharpish and was blinking like mad. i didn't grab a bottle i jsut went to the till to ask for eye wash, feeling rather embarassed. a first aider came and administered eye drops and said sorry about the pump and that i wouldn't ahve to pay. then he went -surprisingly efficient for tesco!

however the woman at the til wanted to charge me 42p for waht sprayed in my eyes so i told her where to go and that if she had a problem i'd get chief executive of tesco (actually a member of the other side of my family) to fire her via my mobile) - i cannot believe as a result of their faulty pump (despite my misplacement) causing me injury it would be possible for someone to say suggest such a thing.

ironic that the "pump out of order" signs appeared later that afternoon.

anyhow, jsut to let you know my vision is apprantly oddly good at least in my left eye, so it really doesn't affect your eyesight. - your eyes spend their whole time self cleaning so for the most part tehy get a pretty easy job. hopepfully you should be fine and a doctors consultation or opticians test shouldn't be necessary unless you suffer any difficulties with sight or pain the next day.

hoep you are ok!

[21QUEST]

Messie, sorry to hear about your incident and hopefully all is well with you. Good to hear, you don't subscribe to "sue everybody" mantra.

I have my thought on the action of the ill equiped etc attendant but I doubt it was solely because of him wanting to be an A-hole per se. Of course inadequate training is the obvious and I'll leave it at that.

I have to say I find some of the "sue this sue that" being bandied about amusing.
Wonder how many folks have all the stuff they seem to think should have been on site(yes I understand all the H&S bits) and indeed have gone for any first aid training themselves....and that's just for the protection of ones own family.
For sure some do and that's good thing. How many people have a fire extinguisher etc in the car?

We complain that we live in an age where people want to pass on the blame for everthing onto others but yet that's exactly what most seem to be doing here. I bet if petrol stations were to make everyone fill their bikes on the side stand, X amount of folks would be up in arms.
I how ever agree that it should be mentioned to the company.

By the way, there was no fire caused by ignited petrol etc


Ben

[21QUEST]

Originally Posted by Uberloinvongenchler

A very similar thing happened to me.

I went to fill up at Tesco as usual, except the pump i habitually use was taken, so I went to a different one... (wow!)

....

My guess is that the button on the pump tells the attendant to activate the pump for a "till" paying customer. I'll still class the incident as the fault of the customer ie you. Moi, I'll be cross with myself for not making sure my nozzle was in the right hole before pulling the trigger.

Also the "pump out of order" sign doesn't necessarily meant the pump was faulty. Could have been taken out of service because no petrol was available to that pump .

Good to hear you were happy with the care received following the incident.


Ben

I beg to differ!

the pumps always have signs wrapped round each one, but this had cones round it too - which is not common practice where they are merely waiting to be refuelled.

and as it happens, another woman came along to use it and had similar problems and complained later...

bit of an unlucky kinda accident really...