Is your industry now safer after Buncefield?

The £750-million estimate for damages claims against Total at Buncefield that appeared in the High Court ruling last week (see PE news story) is asobering reminder of the cost of getting the basics wrong. The staggering bill, which is before potential fines for breach of HSE rules, lost business and damage to reputation, underlines the need for operators to ensure that equipment and systems are appropriate for the risk that any operation presents to employees, local communities and companies throughout the supply chain.

While few companies will fail to look again at their operational safety status, many are still unlikely to embrace the root-and-branch approach to functional safety recommended by the official investigation into Buncefield.

Do you think that safety in the UK process industries has improved significantly since Buncefield and which areas for improvement still remain?

Please email your views to: patrick.raleigh@centaur.co.uk

Readers’ comments:

Hi Patrick,
Following reading your article I felt the need to add my tuppence worth.

As an independent consultant working predominantly with clients that have hazardous areas (gas & dust) I have found that most clients don’t equate their situation to the Buncefield incident as they have “different” hazards and are not in the oil/gas sector (e.g. water/waste water, food and beverage, manufacturing). Admittedly, the risk may be slightly lower (or less likely) but when they are made aware of the likely outcome of an explosion in their plants it is clear that they were completely oblivious to what the real effects of an explosion might have been in terms of injury to workers, damage to plant/equipment, or worse; injuries to the general public.

My experience tells me that human nature ultimately prevails; irrespective of the actual risk, i.e. “It won’t happen to me/us…..”

I have had a few clients with really good people in charge of health and safety. The proactive people out there are the ones who can think outside the box and consider their own situation. I have found that whilst funding is important, the biggest factor in compliance with health and safety legislation is the competence, experience and professionalism of individuals – not companies. In most cases it is usually fairly straightforward to implement some basic measures to vastly reduce risk – often enough to avoid any potential incident but when a company doesn’t take even the basic steps to safety they are treading on shaky ground, displaying lack of management, safety procedures and inadequate competencies throughout the board; a situation that should not prevail within the hazardous area sector. Buncefield showed that such people are in oil/gas as well as everywhere else…

Best regards,
For 4 square Engineering Consultancy Limited,

William Rose.
Tel: 01506 823311
Fax: 05603 113045
Mobile: 07764 461694
wr@4sq.co.uk
www.4sq.co.uk