Industrial Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Industrial - Assignment Example Over 40 persons were injured, businesses and homes were destroyed and the explosion detected as far as in the Netherlands on seismograph stations. There were investigation into the cause of the accident and the extent of the damage and this attracted legal action in which five companies were found guilty. This research paper will examine the incident at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot and describe the events that led to the accident, its main causes and the preventive steps that should have been taken. It will further highlight the culture and management at the site in terms of safety systems and procedures implementation as well as the environmental impact and subsequent prosecutions. Design and maintenance shortcomings can be seen to be the aspects that sparked off a sequence of events that led to poor monitoring of this filling process and consequent explosions and fire. In 2005, located within the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot, a tank belonging to the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd (HOSL) was filling with unleaded petrol on the night of 10th December. At around midnight of 11 December, tankers were barred from the terminal during which time stock checks were conducted for one and a half hours, without any reports of abnormalities (Nicholas & Whitfield 2013, p. 460). However, another hour and a half later, tank 912 did not register any changes on its level gauge even though it was still filling up. Initial approximations had indicated that the tank would have filled up and started overflowing by five in the morning, which it did. CCTV footage started showing vapour at 05.38 coming from the fuel that was escaping. Eight minutes later, the cloud of vapour is seen t hickening and spreading in all directions. At 05.50 the cloud was already flowing away from the facility and following the topography of the ground, spreading