The Goil Station That Exploded During The Flood Got Graded ‘A’ By The NPA: So Who F*cked Up?

The recent flood has raised so many concerns amongst Ghanaians, including about the locating of fuel stations in very crowded localities.

Some speculated that those supposed to check these things did not, or that the fuel station had problems that went undetected. However the managing director of GOIL has come out to say that wasn’t the case.

The Managing Director of GOIL, Mr Patrick Akorli, said that the National Petroleum Authority just inspected them in February, and they gave them an ‘A’ grade.

According to GraphicOnline:

“In February 2015, the NPA did a complete audit of the station. The station scored 93 per cent, thereby making it a grade A Station,” the Managing Director of GOIL, Mr Patrick Akorli, has stated.

Mr Akorli said the fuel station, which was the third highest selling station on GOIL’s list, was established in 1963.

“It underwent a major renovation in 2015,” he disclosed.
Pressure tests, which are conducted every five years, were performed on that filling station in 2013.

The documents Mr Akorli showed to journalists indicated that checks were made on underground storage tanks, pumps and dispensers.

Permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the NPA licence, the availability of a Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) certificate for dispensing pumps, verification stickers on dispensing pumps, fire certificates and the availability of building permits and insurance certificates were all inspected and cleared by the NPA.

The technical, infrastructure, waste management storage and disposal, pollution prevention and controls and occupational health and safety requirements of the filling station were all checked and passed by the NPA”

Which is interesting: because the fire obviously happened due to a fuel spillage, which has been tracked to that station. So there must have been a structural defect which the so-called NPA inspectors did not pick up on, or which the fuel station deliberately hid.

People are dead, and answers must be given; but the question is who f*cked up here?