Australia's Transport Safety Bureau has published a report that explain in detail why mobile phone won't cause fire at petrol station.

If the dangers of using mobile phones in petrol stations appear unfounded, why do retailers continue to warn motorists against using them? According to Burgess, mobile phone warnings developed as part of a global drive to increase safety in the late 1980’s. This was largely in response to the Piper-Alpha oil rig disaster just off the Scottish coast in 1988, in which 167 oil-workers lost their lives.

Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, countries around the world continue to caution customers about the dangers of using mobile phones in the vicinity of petrol pumps. This includes Australia, where petrol pumps display stickers that caution motorists to turn off their mobile phones while refuelling. Without any supportive evidence, however, such precautionary action raises the question as to why service stations continue to provide warnings against mobile phones.

The answer is provided by Mobil Oil Australia. In 2004, the oil company issued a memo to all retail site staff to explain the need for mobile phone warnings. It stated that, while Mobil has no experience of fires being caused in this manner, most mobile phone manufacturers do not certify their equipment as safe to use in hazardous areas. It explained that, in accordance with dangerous goods regulations3, it is a requirement that electrical equipment used within hazardous areas be certified intrinsically safe and that this is not the case with most mobile phones. In addition, the memo explained that mobile phone warnings are used to reduce the chance of fuel spill and fire caused by motorist inattention.

Download the report here

http://www.slashphone.com/download/20050705/static_fires.pdf

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