EDMONTON — Starting Thursday, customers at Husky gas stations in Ontario will be required to pay before fuelling up, either in the store or at the pump.

Husky Energy says it believes requiring customers to pre-pay will minimize risks to gas station staff associated with fuel payments.

Spokesman Mel Duvall says this follows a successful pilot in Edmonton last year.

The program has been rolled out in the rest of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba over the past two months.

The Alberta government introduced mandatory pre-pay legislation last month in the wake of the deaths of five gas station workers in gas-and-dash incidents in the province over the last three years.