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Press Release 29/03/2007

Oil fuel sector report published

The Competent Authority (CA) today welcomed the Buncefield Investigation Board recommendations dealing with the design and operation of fuel storage sites and released its own Report on the Findings of the Oil/Fuel Depot Safety and Environmental Reviews.

The CA is comprised of the Environment Agency (EA), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and regulates oil and fuel storage installations across Britain that fall under Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) regulations.

The CA Report includes:

This report follows the safety alert issued by the HSE in February 2006 after the first Buncefield Progress Report, which asked operators of large oil or fuel storage installations to review them, to make sure they were complying with good practice and relevant standards.

The environment review by the Environment Agency looked at containment measures at the sites, as well as the proximity of sites to environmentally sensitive areas - for example, adjacent to a protected habitat, watercourse or a groundwater resource.

"We found that at 10 of sites assessed there was evidence of good practice, posing little risk to the environment. However, 19 sites were significantly below good practice which may pose a significant risk to the environment should an incident occur, due to their proximity to an environmentally sensitive location," Head of Industry Regulation, Dr Martin Bigg said.

At the other 57 sites there was evidence that some measures were below good practice, but not to the same extent. These sites may also be in locations where an incident had less potential to harm the environment.

The main areas where measures where found to be deficient related to bunds not being leak-tight and inadequate bund capacity.

"While the majority of sites were able to demonstrate a reasonable level of good practice there were deficiencies at some which need action. The principle that bunds should be leak-tight, and of adequate capacity is based on long standing good practice across industry," Dr Bigg said.

"However, the integrity of the bunding only becomes of concern when the primary containment fails, for example an overflow or a leak from a tank. In the event of this happening, combined with bunding failure, it is usually the environment that is affected, but sometimes there are potential health hazards from smoke or polluted water.

"As the regulator we have a programme in place to review all sites. But this is like an MOT – it only gives a snapshot of standards at any given time. It is the site operator’s responsibility to ensure that adequate standards to protect the environment are maintained.

"We are working closely with operators to ensure that where necessary their environmental protection measures are improved".

Commenting on the publication of the report, Kevin Allars, head of HSE’s Chemical Industries Division, said: "The Competent Authority welcomes the publication of the Major Incident Investigation Board (MIIB) Report today, and supports the range of recommendations it contains. We particularly endorse the need for high standards of primary containment delivered by high reliability controls and implemented, and maintained by high reliability organisations. The recommendations align well with the work programme started by the Competent Authority early in 2006, working with the Buncefield Standards Task Group, aimed at ensuring the highest standards of control are in place at fuel storage sites.

"The separate findings report from the CA builds on that issued in June 2006, and now provides a full analysis of the situation across the relevant sites. I am encouraged that only 1% of the 1,081 additional safety topics analysed were rated as being below good practice, and we are now concentrating our efforts in working with industry to bring those areas up to standard.

"The CA has an on-going programme of regulatory interventions at the sites, which utilises the joint regulator/industry Buncefield Task Group to push forward improvement measures. I believe that this approach will deliver permanent and far-reaching enhancements to safety in the oil/fuel storage industry, and by working with our environmental colleagues will also significantly reduce the potential for environmental harm," Mr Allars added.

"For the nine sites within Scotland it was heartening to find that none of the issues reviewed were found to be below good practice, however there is no room for complacency within SEPA and HSE since this is just a snap-shot of the sites," Dr John Burns, PPC / Air Unit Manager for SEPA said.

Through the work of the CA it has become clear that there is a need to clarify current standards and raise them in some areas.  This was confirmed in the MIIB's Design and Operations Report published today.  The CA is therefore developing a policy on containment of bulk hazardous liquids that will set the standards for new COMAH establishments and require some upgrading at existing establishments.  It will be subject to a consultation with industry and other interested parties.  The policy aims to prevent the loss of containment of dangerous substances and minimise the consequences to people and the environment, including the effects of firewater.

"This will clarify and strengthen policy for this area, both in the short term and over a period of many years where substantial investment is required", Head of Industry Regulation, Dr Martin Bigg said.

But the Competent Authority says this is not an excuse for site operators wait until then to make changes. There are several areas that improvements can be made without new or revised guidance, for example bund capacity and repairs and maintenance.

The full report is available on www.environment-agency.gov.uk

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