Ontario to allow cellphones at gas stations after recent report

New study finds that chances of ignition at 1 in 10 billion.

Ontario’s safety regulator says it will permit cellphones at gas stations after a new report corrected the long-held assumption that they pose a fire risk at the pump, reports CBC.

The analysis by U.S. engineering consulting firm BakerRisk found that there is “one chance in 10 billion” that a cellphone could ignite gas vapours while refuelling.

The Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) will now let will let people use cellphones to pay for gas at dispensers in Ontario.

“There is a very low probability of cell phones being able to ignite even an ideal flammable gas mixture in air,” said BakerRisk in its report. “There have been no fires reported at gas stations attributed to cell phone ignition in the last 20 years.”

Customers at the pump should still be focused on their refuelling task at hand, and not use the cellphone for distraction, according to the TSSA.

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