Improvements to UK safety and environmental standards post-Buncefield
Ninety-seven percent of the safety and environmental improvements that the oil and fuel industry agreed to deliver post-Buncefield have been completed.
As the joint Competent Authority (CA) for the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH), the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, have today published a report on the progress made by 50 fuel storage sites on eight priority areas for improvement.
In October 2006 the joint regulator/industry Buncefield Standards Task Group (BSTG) recommended six measures to improve the primary containment at sites storing large quantities of petrol, to assist in keeping liquids in the containers where they should be, and two improvements in secondary and tertiary containment to limit the spread of any spillage or fire water should primary containment fail.
For secondary containment issues, which the Environment Agency [England and Wales] leads on behalf of the Competent Authority, five sites have not made adequate progress to improve the fire resistance of the bund joints:
o Chevron Plymouth
o Chevron Kingsbury Terminal, Tamworth
o Chevron Roath Dock, Cardiff
o Chevron Portslade, Brighton
o Sunderland Oil (Chevron) Port of Sunderland
Environment Agency Deputy Director of Operations David Jordan said: “While the majority of fuel sites in the United Kingdom have delivered improvements that will protect the surrounding land and water supplies in the event of another Buncefield type incident, it is disappointing that five sites have failed to match the standards set by their peers.
“The Buncefield investigation found that joints of the secondary containment bunds were not fire resistant, allowing fuel and fire water to escape when primary storage facilities were breached.
“These standards and deadlines were set by the industry themselves in 2006, and their failure to deliver on that agreement has given us little choice but to take enforcement action.'
Of the six areas relating to primary containment, for which HSE leads on behalf of the Competent Authority, there has been 100% progress in three areas: improved management of fuel transfer by pipeline; operating practices and staffing levels to prevent tank overfilling and effective communication during shift handover. With respect to high-integrity in tank-filling control, assessments had been done and a verification programme is in place to ensure that the measures implemented as a result of these reduce the risk as low as reasonable practicable (ALARP). For the recommendations on fire safe shut-off valves and remotely operated shut-off valves (ROSOVs), one site’s plans had unacceptably long timescales however the site has altered its filling procedures to eliminate the possibility of a Buncefield-type incident happening there due to an overfill.
Kevin Allars, Head of HSE Chemical Industries Division said: “This report reflects the considerable effort and progress made to improve standards of risk control at these sites since the incident particularly on improvements to primary containment. There is still work for industry to do to confirm that its safety integrity levels are adequate.
“We must maintain a similar level of momentum on the remaining recommendations from the Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board. We will be keeping the pressure on industry, making further visits to sites ensuring that all necessary improvements are put in place in a timely manner and that this is achieved by taking enforcement action where appropriate.”
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