Response to the Buncefield incident
In the early hours of Sunday 11th December 2005 explosions occurred at Buncefield Oil Storage Depot, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. At least one of the initial explosions was of massive proportions and there was a large fire, which engulfed a high proportion of the site.
Over 40 people were injured; fortunately there were no fatalities. Significant damage occurred to both commercial and residential properties in the vicinity and a large area around the site was evacuated on emergency service advice. The fire burned for several days, destroying most of the site and emitting large clouds of black smoke into the atmosphere.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency (EA) investigated the incident and secured convictions against five companies, who were ordered to pay almost £10m in combined fines and costs.
Reports, recommendations and research
Buncefield related reports, recommendations and research undertaken after the incident can be accessed via The National Archives:
- Buncefield: Why did it happen?
- The Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG) Final Report - Safety and environmental standards for fuel storage sites
- PSLG principles of process safety leadership
- Chemical Business Association: Safety Leadership principles
- Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board (MIIB) Report on HSEs policies and procedures
- The Buncefield Major Incident - Ten years on - A report by the COMAH Strategic Forum
Buncefield research reports
- RR511 - Revised land use planning arrangements around large scale petroleum depots
- RR512 - Review of significance of societal risk for proposed revision to land use planning arrangements for large scale petroleum storage sites
- RR716 - A review of Layers of Protection Analysis (LOPA) analyses of overfill of fuel storage tanks
- RR718 - Buncefield Explosion Mechanism Phase 1 (Volumes 1 and 2)
- RR760 - Mechanical integrity management of bulk storage tanks
- RR908 - Vapour cloud formation: Experiments and modelling
- RR936 - Buncefield investigation - Liquid flow and vapour production
- RR872 - Identification of instrumented level detection and measurement systems used with Buncefield in-scope substances