What matters

Safety’s our top priority. End of story.

That’s why we insist on a few simple safety measures from everyone – our staff and our customers. When you think about it, this stuff is mainly common sense.

Mobile phone use

You don’t need to turn your mobile phone off at Z service stations, but we discourage you using it while refuelling. Using a mobile phone when you’re refuelling can distract you, which can result in spilled fuel or not noticing traffic on the forecourt.

Find out more about using your mobile phone at a Z station here.

Smoking

By law, you and your passengers have to put out any cigarettes, cigars or pipes before you enter a service station.

Caravans and food vans

By law, you must extinguish all pilot lights in the ovens of camper vans, caravans and food vans, and in gas refrigerators. As soon as you leave the service station, ventilate the area so that any remaining fuel vapours can dissipate before you relight the pilot light. 

Car engines

By law, you must switch off your engine before you refuel – and leave it off until you’ve finished.

Motorcycles

Always get off your motorcycle before you refuel – and stay off it until you’ve finished.

If fuel is spilt onto a hot exhaust or engine it can cause a fire, injuring you and other people.

Always take off your helmet before coming into the store. Understandably, staff can feel threatened by people wearing helmets. 

Your health and safety

Always be careful when you handle or store fuel for any purpose:

• Petrol and LPG can burn or irritate skin or eyes, and stain or dissolve some fabrics.
• If your clothing is splashed with fuel, saturate the area with water and remove the clothing slowly (to avoid static electricity) as soon as you can. Hang it outside to dry before washing.
• If fuel splashes on your skin, wash with soap and water.
• If fuel gets in your eyes, wash them out with running water for at least 15 minutes. If the pain doesn’t stop, get medical attention.
• Prolonged exposure to fuel vapours can damage your health.

Handling fuel and filling containers

So that you and our staff stay safe, please follow these rules:

• Only fill containers that have been properly stamped to say they are approved to carry flammable liquids. You can get these containers from service stations, or hardware or camping stores. Fuel can ‘eat’ or ‘melt’ ordinary plastic and glass is breakable.

• By law, filling non-approved or incorrectly labelled containers from dispensing pumps is illegal.
• Don’t fill containers on the back of a truck deck, trailer, utility vehicle or in car boots. Put the container on the ground to fill it.
• If you’re filling a portable container, manually control the nozzle valve and fill the container slowly. This keeps down the chance of static electricity build-up and also means you’re less likely to splatter or spill any fuel.
• Our policy is that the biggest container we will fill up is 25 litres.
• All these measures are designed to reduce risk or injury from:
  • sparks caused by static electricity build-up
  • people lifting heavy containers
  • accidents caused by using non-approved containers.
• Always label and store fuel containers in a cool, well-ventilated place out of children’s reach.

Refuelling petrol vehicles

Take care when opening the fuel cap on your petrol vehicle. Under certain conditions, static discharge from some types of clothing can ignite petrol vapours from your vehicle tank.

Static electricity

Preventing static electricity

Before you pick up the pump nozzle to refuel your vehicle, first touch any metal part of the vehicle to discharge static electricity.

NEVER get back into your vehicle while it’s being refuelled – stay outside.

Use ONLY the refuelling latch on the pump nozzle and don’t leave the nozzle unattended.

Understanding static electricity

Static electricity build-up happens mainly in dry weather. It can be caused by getting back into your vehicle during refuelling. When you return to the pump nozzle, the static may discharge – and that can ignite petrol vapours, causing a fire.

Impact on the environment

It is illegal to pour fuel or motor oil into drains or sumps because of the damage it can do to the environment and the risk of explosion. 

If we see you pouring fuel or motor oil into drains or sumps, we are legally obliged to inform regional councils, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Police and/or the Fire Department and give them your vehicle details. Remember you are personally liable and could be prosecuted with a fine of up to $200,000, with any recovery costs on top of that.