The service station, once known as BP, is based on Commissioner Street, Boksburg.
According to BP’s East Rand’s area manager, Kagiso Rakhuba, the incident appears to have been faulted.
“For a person to be a contractor, he would have to be qualified and certified to do the preliminary work before entering a monitoring well,” he says.
“Before anyone can enter the well, it needs to be checked if there may be a leak underground or even an excess of gas fumes.”
He says that the damage caused by the fumes in the small amount of time shows that the preliminary process was not taken.
“One cannot take people off the street and just let them go underground; it is dangerous,” says Rakhuba.
Another aspect pointed out by Rakhuba is that because a BP used to operate on the same premises years ago, many consumers are under the impression the service station is BP.
“We have corresponded with lawyers to find out if it is legal for the service station to place BP together with their name on their signage outside,” says Rakhuba.
“Even though the BP on their signage may not stand for British Petroleum, customers may believe that it does.”
Owner of the service station, Adrie de Wet, admittied that the petrol station is not affiliated with BP, however, there is a sign outside the garage with the letters BP on it.
“Yes it is true we are not a BP and as you can see there are no BP signs on our premises,” she argues.
“I have been instructed by the police to not speak to anyone about the incident (that took place on October 3) until investigations are complete.”
De Wet would not comment any further.
Boksburg SAPS communications officer, Lieut Mathanda Ngobese, says that it appears that the petrol management did not follow the correct process and the matter is being investigated.
“The case opened is that of culpable homicide and, therefore, someone needs to be held accountable for the man’s death,” says Ngobese.
“The owners will be held liable for the man’s death as it was on their property, and also their responsibility to make certain that whoever is employed by them is qualified and trained to do the job.”
