Your oil distributor likely meets NFPA regulations in their storage area. It would be interesting to know their answer if you were to ask. That does not mean that plastic IBC's are approved oil storage containers for just any area though.

I would suspect that their storage building is designed and equipped for the application having secondary containment, limited volume piles, separation of piles and quite possibly a fire sprinkler/suppression system equipped with foam. It is unlikely that most farmers have machine shop's that are comparably equipped for storing bulk oils in plastic containers.  I also doubt that your oil supplier is allowed to perform "hot work" in the same building where this storage exists.

For what it's worth most plastic IBC totes are designed to be filled once and must be recycled and recertified prior to reuse. In most instances this means that the plastic liner is removed and replaced. The useful life of a metal tank used to collect waste oil far exceeds the designed life of a plastic lined IBC tote.

Don't get the wrong impression. I am not condemning anyone who uses plastic oil containers. I just wanted to expose what I believe is a significant hazard. I would have not thought it such a serious issue if I had not seen the severity of a fire where used oil leaked out of plastic lined IBC containers.


Google found this link to the hazard of plastic IBC's:

http://ifnews.if.fi/en/latest-topics/lessons-from-losses/is-an-oil-fire-threatening-your-company-.html