Buncefield Depot Fire 2005 - A Students Perspective (Major Incidents in the United Kingdom Book 1)

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Retrieved 30 January Retrieved 12 April The Water Birds Say So". The New York Times. South African History Online. Archived from the original on 13 May Retrieved 16 May The War from Within: Official website of the City of Pilsen. Scientific Aspects of the Explosion". In Ruffman, Alan; Colin D. Millard Publishing Company, Incorporated. Held responsible for the explosion that wrecked the Hirakata munitions depot, north of Osaka, on March 1, two high Army officers were placed on the reserve list, while a captain was suspended from his duties by the War Office, Domei reported.

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Mass Casualties, a Lessons Learned Approach: Archived from the original on Chronology of the War at Sea — Los Alamos National Laboratory. Finding of Facts, Opinion and Recommendations, continued The Port Chicago Mutiny. Explosives and Demolition, page Retrieved 13 April Retrieved 27 November Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

Retrieved 17 May On July 15, , one-third of the people of Prum in Germany lost their homes when ammunition stored in a large concrete pillbox exploded and covered the hillside with debris. Mysterious explosions in Colombia".

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This Day in History. The court heard how there was no proper management chain at Buncefield, a failure to abide by baseline "good practice guidance", "insufficient awareness" of the potential for an accident and no system for investigating near misses. Andrew Langdon QC, prosecuting in the Buncefield case on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency, told the court that employers could have done much more to ensure staff could perform their jobs better at the site, near Hemel Hempstead.

They didn't get any risk assessments worth their name — pretty essential you might think — how the tanks should be filled, how they should be emptied, what happens with all these considerations," he said. Training manuals were found to be out of date and there was found to be a "degree of fatigue" among the supervisors tasked with keeping the depot safe.

Buncefield explosion: 'I thought a plane landed on us'

Contracts with companies who worked onsite were found to be insufficiently clear, with contractors unsure of lines of responsibly. Mr Justice Calvert-Smith, the judge who presided over the case, summarised there had been "a large number of failures with systems and procedures on site". HOSL was found guilty on Wednesday, but the verdict could not be reported until today, when the company's lawyers brought the trial to a premature end by pleading guilty to additional charges relating to the causing of pollution to enter controlled waters underlying the vicinity around Buncefield.

The charges carry unlimited fines, and the penalties could run into millions. Among the other companies implicated in the trial were the British Pipeline Agency, which admitted two charges relating to environmental damage. The tank had a level gauge that employees used to monitor the level manually, and an independent high-level switch which would shut off inflow if the level got above a certain setpoint. On Tank , the manual gauge was stuck and the independent shut-off switch was inoperative, meaning that the tank was being "filled blind" with petrol i.

Eventually Tank filled up completely, the petrol overflowed through vents at the top, and formed a vapour cloud near ground level, which ignited and exploded. The fires from the explosion then lasted for five days.

Buncefield fire: Oil storage firm found guilty of safety breaches | UK news | The Guardian

The investigation found that the level gauge had stuck at random times after a tank service in August , but it did not concern maintenance contractors or site management. The independent shut-off switch was not fitted with a critical padlock to allow its check lever to work. Secondary containment meant to trap the petrol in a retaining wall around the tank failed and allowed petrol to flow out.

Tertiary containment drains and catchment areas to prevent release of spilled chemicals to the environment also failed, and fuel and firefighting foam entered groundwater supplies. The investigation found secondary and tertiary containment to be inadequately designed and poorly maintained. Wider management failings were found by the investigation to have contributed to the explosion: Site staff did not have control over the flow rates and timing of two of the three inlet sources, meaning that they did not have enough information to properly manage the storage of incoming fuel.

Further, overall throughput had increased, reducing wait times further and shifting the emphasis to process operations instead of process safety. Soon after the incident the Health Protection Agency was stripped of its remit to provide air quality data and it was passed on to the Environment Agency which forms part of the Major Accident Investigation Board. An anniversary service was held in Holy Trinity Church Leverstock Green on Sunday, 10 December , at which the Bishop of St Albans spoke, calling again for a full public inquiry, for assurances that the local hospital would maintain its accident and emergency department, and for the community to continue to build on good relationships formed because of the blast.

To rebuild the damaged parts of the site, the relevant approval from Dacorum Borough Council would be needed. The BP section of the site is a good way from the explosion and survived with very little damage, but it was inoperative as of It is considering using its section to store aviation fuel and as a distribution centre for motor fuel, but at a much-reduced level.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Buncefield fire The fire ten minutes after the explosion as seen from Hunters Oak. This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal.

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