SERVICE STATIONS

Satish Nakched, Suva

During the 1970s the service stations with few pumps provided the fuel, lubricants and the other vehicle basic needs and only at­tracted the motorist.

The business has evolved tremendously and most of the service stations are now constructed using the latest technology and models.

It is a pleasure to visit the outlets now because they are equipped with full air-con­dition system and have a large and a spacious parking at the pumps.

The service stations have become a con­venience store and carries all the range of the groceries,fast food ,soft drinks and other items for the people on the go.

Some even have a bread shops adjacent to the building.

A few of the service stations have become the corner shops in their location and attract the general public into the stores and operate on a 24-hour basis.

Apart from the motorist driving in the other members of the public actually walk into the premises and the frequency increases after hours and during the weekend when the larger shops and the supermarket closes for business.

The service stations close to schools and tertiary institutes attract students in num­bers because of the variety of everyday prod­uct availability.

However, when the gradual change was in progress the safety issues of the customers on foot was never considered and I believe that even today such importance is still ig­nored.

I have not seen any service station in Fiji that has a pedestrian walkway marked that will enable anyone walking in safe entry and egress out of the premise.

Vehicles have the right of way and there are no administration controls in the form of any written notice placed as a warning for the drivers to be cautious.

There have been near misses and I believe it can be a cause of serious injuries if no improvement and the corrective action are implemented in the redesigning of the safety aspects in the place of the business.

I believe that this is the social corporate re­sponsibility of the franchise to ensure that all the franchisees must adhere to and incorpo­rate the safety issues of all the stakeholders when doing business ethically.

I also urge the regulators to consider the basic safety rights of all the customers when issuing or renewing the business licence of the operators.

The oil companies have a very high and a strict standard of their internal process when dealing with the operation phase of the busi­ness and the staff. But equally important their procedures has not captured the protec­tion aspects of the other users.