|
13th December 2005
The incident at Buncefield has focused attention on the safety and operating procedures at UK refineries and oil storage terminals.
Chris Hunt, Director General of UKPIA commented “The scale of the incident at Buncefield terminal was unprecedented in the UK. The downstream oil refining and marketing industry in the UK has a good safety record. It has proportionately fewer injuries than the UK manufacturing sector as a whole” (see note 2 below).
Because of the potential risks associated with petroleum products, risk assessment and safe practices are paramount in the manufacture, distribution and use of these products. The member companies of UKPIA all have well developed health and safety policies and procedures. These are constantly under review in the light of new technology, operational experience and the sharing of best practice, both within the industry and with regulatory organisations.
Refineries and distribution terminals work to a number of oil industry codes of practice, both international and UK, covering all aspects of the design, construction and operation of installations. These include codes published by the Energy Institute.
The main process safety regulation of refineries in the UK and larger terminals like Buncefield, is the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations, which categorises these installations as top tier sites. These regulations require all such sites to have a major accident prevention plan and, in addition, top tier sites must produce a safety report to show that risks have been systematically reviewed and controlled, and necessary measures taken.
Safety reports are reviewed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency (EA) and must also include emergency response procedures.
|