Buncefield: Five face criminal charges

London - Five companies are to face criminal charges over the explosions and fire at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot in Hemel Hempstead on 11 Dec 2005, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced. The decision follows a lengthy and complex investigation into the incident, which injured over 40 people and caused massive damage to homes and businesses in the surrounding area.

Total UK Ltd, Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd, British Pipeline Agency Ltd, TAV Engineering Ltd and Motherwell Control Systems 2003 Ltd have been summoned before West Hertfordshire Magistrates Court, Watford on 23 Jan, 2009. The prosecutions are being brought by the HSE and the Environment Agency (EA).

Total UK has been charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees and others and with causing pollution - fuel and firewater chemicals - to enter ground waters in the vicinity of Buncefield. Likewise, British Pipeline Agency and Hertfordshire Oil Storage were charged with failing to take the necessary steps to prevent a major accident and to limit its impact on people and the environment.

For their part, TAV Engineering Ltd, of Guildford, and Motherwell Control Systems 2003 Ltd, c/o Rooney Associates 2nd Floor, Liverpool, are charged with failing to ensure that people not in their employment were not exposed to risks to their health or safety.

Shortly after the investigation started, the HSE issued an urgent safety alert to operators of oil/fuel storage facilities that employ tank level gauges similar to those in use at Buncefield at the time of the explosion. The incident was found to have been caused by the ignition of a fuel vapour cloud from an overflowing oil storage tank.

The Buncefield incident investigation team looked at how the gauging system performed prior to the explosion and why automatic shutdown of delivery did not take place as intended when the tank's maximum capacity was reached.