Oil depots fail blaze safety checks

SERIOUS failings in safety measures meant to reduce the risk of major explosions at Scotland's fuel oil depots have been uncovered by government inspectors.

Inspectors from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) discovered that none of the nation's nine oil depots "fully complied" with safety recommendations made after the catastrophic explosion and fire at the Buncefield fuel depot in Hertfordshire in 2005.

The inspection reports, obtained under Freedom of Information rules by Scotland on Sunday, reveal that inadequate safety measures at several depots mean there is a "high" risk of a major environmental accident if a leak occurs.

The inspections were carried out at the end of last year to check on improvements made by oil companies since the Buncefield disaster.

The examinations focused on the external "bunds", meaning the dry moats or earth walls used to contain leaks of oil or fuel from storage tanks.

Sepa classified three sites – BP in Inverness, GB Oils in Lerwick and Nustar in Grangemouth – as in a poor condition and at "high" risk of causing a major environmental accident if a leak occurred. Simpson Oils in Scrabster was also logged as "high" risk.

Three others – BP Aberdeen, Ineos Grangemouth, and Ineos Finnart in Argyll – were classified as "medium" risk while Shell Mossmorran in Fife and Nustar Clydebank were logged as "low" risk.

Faults found included bund floors which would allow liquids to seep through, gaps or cracks in bund walls, other weaknesses in bund walls or bund liners in a "poor state of repair." Inspectors also found that valves which could be used to safely drain escaping liquids from bunds were too close to bund walls and so would be inaccessible to emergency services if a fire broke out.

Sepa has given all the sites until Tuesday to submit action plans to rectify the faults.

Industry experts said that bunds were a vitally important second tier of safety in containing potentially harmful storage tank leaks. Regulations insist that bunds must be leakproof.

Dr Clifford Jones, from the school of engineering at Aberdeen University, said the inspectors' findings amounted to serious failings.

"All of these things are dangers in the industry and their avoidance is part of the day-to-day responsibilities," Jones said. "That they seldom lead to difficulty is because of statutory checks. That's why we have safety systems in place.

"It is a matter of some concern to all in the petroleum industry that difficulties have been noted with some hydrocarbon storage facilities in Scotland. By all means let us view Buncefield from a distance of three-and-a-half years for lessons to be learned."

Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, said that she would like to see the companies in her constituency invest more money in safety and the environment.

"People are increasingly becoming aware of the environment, and there is a concern that Ineos and Nustar have failed to invest in terms of safety and upgrading," she said.

Robin Harper, Green Party MSP for the Lothians, also expressed his concerns over the findings, and the time it has taken Sepa to come to these conclusions.

"Why has it taken four years to complete these assessments? It's shocking and it should have been done a few months from the Buncefield incident. What has been going on here? The installations have had four years, they knew what was wrong at Buncefield and they should have done their own checks as a result of that."

The Buncefield incident occurred when fuel overflowed undetected from a storage tank and the resulting vapour cloud was ignited, causing the largest explosion in peacetime Europe.

More than 40 people were injured, hundreds of millions of pounds of damage was caused and the resulting fire took four days to put out.

Two task forces have since issued recommendations about the measures used to contain fuel leaks in oil storage facilities around the UK.

As part of a process to ensure that improvements were being made, the Sepa team inspected nine "Buncefield-type" sites in Scotland.

A report from a meeting of the Buncefield Interest Group set up by Sepa last December reveals a series of general "issues" relating to the inspections. They include:

• Bund floors not impermeable and/or no lining;

• Gaps or cracks in bund walls;

• Unprotected penetrations (mainly pipes) through bund walls;

• Bund liner in poor state of repair;

• Site expertise for bund inspections not adequate;

• Bund drain valves close to bund walls and therefore unlikely to be inaccessible during a fire;

• Volume of secondary containment (the capacity of a bund if a leak occurred) insufficient.

The nine Buncefield-type sites in Scotland are regulated under the Control Of Major Accident Hazards (Comah) Regulations, which are designed to reduce the likelihood and severity of major accidents.

Wendy Thornton, a Sepa specialist in Comah, said: "Securing improvements to prevent similar incidents at fuel storage depots has been, and continues to be, an important priority for the Competent Authority (Sepa and the Health and Safety Executive).

"Although none of the Buncefield in-scope establishments in Scotland has fully met the standards set out in Part B of the containment policy at this time, considerable work has already been carried out to improve safety at fuel storage sites and all the companies have made progress in implementing improvements.

"The Competent Authority and industry are now better equipped to respond and recover more quickly in the event of a Buncefield-type incident and improvements that have already been made to secondary and tertiary containment and mitigation measures mean that the impact on the environment would be lessened."

A BP spokesman said: "BP is working closely with the competent authorities to implement various standards and best practices that have come out of the various investigations into the HOSL (Buncefield] incident."

A spokesman for Ineos said: "In line with all other similar sites in the UK we have been asked to submit plans to comply with the new containment policy as an outcome from the Buncefield Report. We have shared the scope and timeline of the programme with the regulator and it is in line with our on-going investment to continually upgrade and invest in the Grangemouth and Finnart sites."



David Mcloughlin, managing director of NuStar Terminals Limited, said: "NuStar will comply with this policy for all our terminals and we are currently working with Sepa to provide the additional information requested and agree an improvement plan and suitable timeframes for completion of any works required."

At Mossmorran, spokeswoman Marion Gibson said Sepa had found no fundamental shortcomings with the integrity of the containment measures or any threats to the environment. "The majority of the requests were to provide reports, inspections or assessments. All of these have been actioned and are either completed, in progress, or completed and awaiting review by Sepa."

Officials at Simpson Oils and GB Oils were unavailable for comment.

Legal action is still continuing over the Buncefield incident, which – in one piece of good fortune – occurred at 6am on a weekend morning when few staff were on duty. The explosion could be heard 100 miles away, and the resulting fire closed the M1 motorway for a time. It led to £750m of damaged property claims and to more than 1,000 people seeking hospital treatment as toxic fumes spread over the area.

Earlier this month, the case against five companies involved in the massive fire at the oil depot, including joint owner Total UK, was adjourned at St Alban's Crown Court until October.

Four of the companies have been charged over failures under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Three of the companies are also charged with causing pollution by allowing fuel and firewater chemicals to enter the chalk aquifer underlying the vicinity of the plant near Hemel Hempstead.

Richard Matthews, representing the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency, said the charges are "punishable by way of unlimited fines."

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: "This is a matter for Sepa. Sepa is the regulatory body and ministers expect it to ensure that any necessary work in relation to safety is carried out to a high standard."