Can cell phones cause an explosion as you fuel your car? We look at what U.S. government agencies say—and some precautions to keep it from happening.
You’re at a gas station filling up. So is the driver at the next pump. Suddenly you hear his cell phone ring. As gasoline fumes waft upward from the nozzle inserted in his vehicle, he reaches to answer the call. Do you:
a) Ignore it.
b) Be concerned.
c) Dive for cover!
OK, diving for cover may be a bit extreme, but there is real risk of an explosion, says the U.S. Navy Safety Center, an organization that knows a thing or two about explosive situations.
This became clear in a fascinating advisory issued by the Safety Center to a “deluge of questions concerning the validity of safety issues associated with fueling vehicles,” many of which, says the Center, have to do with cell phones.
You need safety policies, but you don’t have to write them. We’ve already written them for you in BLR’s Essential Safety Policies program. Examine it at no cost or risk. Click for details.
They’re not the only ones concerned. The Web page of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees the use of thousands of official vehicles, tells their operators “DO NOT (their capitalization) use your cellular phones when at a gas station. Cellular use anywhere fuel is stored is hazardous.”
The impetus behind all this is a spate of reports (some, but not all, confirmed) that sparks generated by the circuitry in cell phone switches and batteries can, in fact, touch off a fuel explosion. “In one incident, a driver suffered burns and his car was severely damaged when … talking on his mobile phone near a gas pump. Electronic devices in gas stations are protected with explosive containment devices,” GSA declares. “Cell phones are not.”
Other sources, however, consider all this an urban legend of sorts. And simple observation shows no evidence of drivers detonating at gas stations around the nation, even though cell phone usage is pervasive.
So what’s the truth? According to the Safety Center:
Get the safety policies you need without the work. They’re in BLR’s Essential Safety Policies program. Try it at no cost and no risk. Click to learn how.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there are no dangers associated with cell phones. In fact, there are. We’ll look at some in the next Advisor, along with a policy your company can publish to reduce those dangers, and a means to have that, and other essential safety policies, without having to create them from scratch.
Static discharge during fueling operations may cause an explosive situation. This point has been proven time and again with fueling operations and aircraft which is why grounding of aircraft during fueling is stressed. However, the Mythbusters tested the cell phone-car fueling-explosion concept and determined that this cell phone myth is BUSTED. They approached this concept very scientifically with multiple tests.