| dc.description.abstract | vironmental best practice in the oil industry remains a top p
riority in Kenya. Protecting the
environment
in the oil industry
requires advanced technology, research; and new ways of
operating the fuel stations. The safety of self, the public, and facilities are key in any retail fu
el
service station and the workforc
e/management strives to have zero fatal incidences and
accidents.
The
research sought to determine the factors affecting environmental best practice
compliance among retail fuel service stations within Thika East Sub
-
County. To achieve this
objective, th
e
study was guided by the following specific research objectives
;
the effect of
factors especially the influence of capital adequacy, influence of skills competence and
technological development on environmental best practice compliance status.
Primary data
used questionnaires, field observations of the facilities and interviews were done
at
times by telephone
when the respondents needed clarifications. Secondary data was acquired
through reviews of several Acts to help assess the level of compliance in rela
tion to legislation,
data from journals, project reports, maps, library books and the internet were used to generate
data for the study. The study conducted a census of the 19 retail fuel service stations within the
Thika East Sub
-
County. The study questio
nnaires were delivered to the retail fuel service
stations by hand to the identified respondents. Data was coded using SPSS. The researcher
employed both quantitative and qualitative techniques of analyzing the data
including content
analysis and descripti
ve statistics
. The data was analyzed and used to draw inferences and
conclusions for this study.
The key findings of this research indicate that capital is very essential of which 49% of firms
have affirmed to this and stated
that the financial resources w
ere available to the management of
the fuel stations to initiate the required EBP compliance.
The findings further indicated that the
firms had employed skilled competent employee to manage the oil product. On technology the
study found out that
79% of res
pondents stated that the firms enhance
EBP positively by use of
recommended piping systems, automated dispensers and ATG system. This prevents and
minimizes fuel leakages and hence ground, air and water pollution t is recommended for best practice tha
t fuel service stations need to allocate and avail more
finances to invest in Environmental Best Practice (EBP). The leadership of the oil marketing
companies should lead from the front in giving environmental activities top priority instead of
waiting for
the relevant compliance agencies to enforce E.B.P. and to avoid short cuts rushing to
comply. There is also need to make it an environmental habit to keep monitoring and evaluating
all their facilities.
The management should also employ qualified staff to
enhance what the quality marshals or
supervisors do.
The staff should be assigned environmental responsibility and authority within
their areas of control and must be competent to perform duties effectively.
The study also
recommends that technological de
velopment to be added to workforce capacity. Further research
should be done on different mechanisms that can be employed to manage hazardous waste within
Thika East sub
-
county because of its rapidly expanding and increased level of industrialization.
The
research should also show the strengths of the firms’ cooperate social responsibility | en_US |
