Buncefield report urges risk review

News | HSW
15.09.2007

Operators and regulators of oil depot sites similar to Buncefield will have to change their approaches to major incident risk management, according to the Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board's (MIIB) sixth report.

The Health and Safety Commission appointed the MIIB following the December 2005 explosions and fire at the Buncefield oil depot in Hemel Hempstead, which led to the evacuation of around 2000 homes and destroyed 20 business premises. Its latest report looks at emergency preparedness and response, making recommendations in four areas: reassessing scenarios; managing incidents on-site; preparing for and responding to incidents off-site; and planning for recovery.

The first priority, the board says, is to reduce the risk of a future incident. This means that operators of sites under the COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations) regime must reassess the hazard potential of their sites to identify "all foreseeable major hazard incidents and associated emergency scenarios".

Before the Buncefield blasts, neither a massive vapour cloud explosion at a tank farm nor severe multi-tank fires were seen as credible major incident risks. To be effective, emergency plans required under COMAH must be based "on a full appreciation of the potential for major incidents", the report says.

The MIIB also calls on central government to take a more consistent leadership approach. It recommends that named ministers should have responsibility for both the emergency and the recovery phases of an incident, and wants to see special status (and central funding) for affected areas. This should apply without delay in the Buncefield area, it says.

In a separate report, the Buncefield Standards Task Group (BSTG), a joint industry/regulator working group, has laid down new minimum safety and environmental standards for fuel storage sites. Drawing on the Buncefield experience, these reflect the "remote but real" risk of vapour explosion. The HSE will be monitoring the progress of operators in adopting these new standards.

The MIIB report is available at www.buncefieldinvestigation.gov.uk/reports/preparedness.pdf and the BSTG standards are available at www.hse.gov.uk/comah/buncefield/final.htm