How the Charge Builds
Flowing liquid carries charge, and the faster the flow and the more the liquid splashes, the more it accumulates. A loaded truck, a tank being filled from the top, a transfer hose, all become charged surfaces. The vapor space above the liquid is where the spark jumps.
What the Standards Require
OSHA's flammable liquids standard, 29 CFR 1910.106, expects containers and tanks to be bonded and grounded during transfer so the whole system sits at one potential. API RP 2003, Protection Against Ignitions Arising out of Static, Lightning, and Stray Currents, sets the practice for loading and unloading operations, including fill rates and bottom vs. top loading.
Where the Practice Fails
The failures are routine: a clip on paint, a missing bond cable, a fill started before the ground is attached, a plastic drum that cannot be grounded at all. The checks are cheap and the sequence is fixed: connect the bond, verify the connection, then open the valve.
The record that closes the loop
Static Electricity at the Loading Rack rests on the same field data as the rest of the operation: tickets, timesheets, approvals, and inspections. The same discipline shows up in Hazmat chemical hauling and tanker cleaning and SPCC plans and secondary containment and Tank gauging and inventory reconciliation. If those records live in notebooks, email, and memory, start with an operations audit.