Abstract
Fire outbreaks have recently become a regular occurrence in Ghana with thousands of lives and millions of United States Dollars (USD) worth of properties being lost annually. The Brong-Ahafo Region has the third-highest number of filling station fire outbreaks in Ghana. Hence, this case study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of fire prevention environmental management mechanisms being used at filling station in the Brong-Ahafo Region in Ghana. A total of 67 filling stations were audited using questionnaire-administered interviews. The respondents in these interviews were the respective filling station managers. The findings reveal that, while Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are performed adequately to proactively predict and manage impacts, the Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) are poorly implemented. In addition, managers do not sufficiently comply with Ghana’s National Fire Safety Standards. Furthermore, there are a number of factors such as poor maintenance of fire extinguishing equipments as well as the lack of effective precautionary measures at these facilities and their customers. This case study has concluded that the environmental management mechanisms being used to avoid fire outbreaks at filling stations in Brong-Ahafo Region of Ghana fall below national standards. Adequate law enforcement, supervision of managers and close monitoring of the activities of filling stations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ghana and Ghana National Fire Service are recommended to address the causes of the numerous fire disasters in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
M.Sc. (Environmental Management)