Working towards standardisation of the Oil Storage Regulations

David Lummis, CEO of the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF), discusses the
complexity of UK Oil Storage Regulations and the pressing need for their
standardisation to curb confusion for both suppliers and distributors

Oil Storage Regulations are part of the devolved
legislative framework within the UK. Wales, Scotland,
Northern Ireland and England each have separate
regulations that suppliers and distributors throughout the UK
must abide by; these individual regulations can cause confusion
and enforcement difficulties. In many instances companies
may be inadvertently breaching Oil Storage Regulations,
thereby putting the health and safety of individuals at risk, as
well as placing the organisation at danger of heavy penalties.

When in fact, the stark reality may be that the organisation
believes it is operating within the law, although the laws they
are operating within, may actually be for a different country.

It is because of this confusion and a lack of consistency that
members of the BSIF wish to see a standardisation of the Oil
Storage Regulations within the UK (similar to the Health and
Safety regulations). This standardisation would: avoid local
confusion within industrial organisations that trade throughout
the UK, avoid adverse health and safety effects locally and
prevent the adverse impacts of local variations by insurers and
the application of variable insurance expectations and premiums.

Due to the lack of conformity within UK regulations, the
differences between countries have the potential to cause significant
confusion. For example, in Scotland the regulations include indoor
oil storage whereas the English regulations do not, in Northern
Ireland the regulations include Oil Storage Depots whereas they
are specifically excluded from the English and Scottish
regulations, in Scotland the regulations include all waste oil while
the English regulations only apply to certain waste oils such as
cooking oil, and the Welsh regulations are still to be established
so it is not known what will be included at this point in time.

The Federation is aware that some government departments
are reluctant to propose amendments to the ‘local’ assemblies or
Ministers, unless there is clear evidence that standardisation of
these regulations would show a cost benefit to industry or a
significant benefit to the environment, with the assumption that
any health and safety
aspects are ‘not their
responsibility’.

Unfortunately there
is little motivation for
the average industrial
company using
moderate amounts of
process oils and petrochemicals
to comply
with these regulations
as, although penalties
are extreme, the likelihood of being
caught is minimal. At present,
responses from industrial
organisations often take the view that
“it does not really matter as I am unlikely to get caught”.

Additionally many industrial organisations believe that they are
insured for environmental risks in the same way as they are for
health and safety risks and whilst this is not always accurate there
is a belief that “providing I am acting responsibly in ‘my’ terms
there is not really a problem because the insurer will pay the
bill.” To help curb these beliefs, standardisation of the UK Oil
Storage Regulations would help enforce a more stringent law
that can be policed consistently throughout the UK.

All together now
The Federation believes that from a cost-management basis the
argument for harmonisation of the regulations is strong. For
example industrial companies storing oil need to act differently
in all countries (Scotland, England and Northern Ireland). If the
organisation carries out multi-branch operations in all three
administrations, this will naturally create management procedure
variations which, by the fact of the differences, will cause
confusion, possible lack of compliance and potentially adoption
of the lowest common denominator.

From a legislative perspective, the BSIF deems that it is
questionable whether an English or Scottish oil storage depot will
take account of its responsibilities in the same manner as a storage
depot in Northern Ireland, simply because of the different
regulations. Harmonised regulations would also allow a more
cohesive and rigorous approach to industry monitoring, hence the
true nature of personal accidents and injuries could be discovered.

Whilst the oil storage regulations are about preventing leaks
and spills, when these do occur they will need to be dealt with
and in most instances it will be people dealing with them. By the
very nature of this task, people are at risk, however, these dangers
can be minimised if sensible storage precautions are taken. With
the current regulations, there are a number of potential
problems where contact contamination could arise as well as
potential for injury through ‘slips and trips’. An example is the
potential increase in unreported spills of waste oil in England
(where certain waste oils are not within the scope of the
regulations) and the possible rise in spills in oil storage depots in
England and Scotland (where oil storage depots are not within
the scope of the regulations).

Without doubt the regional variations of these regulations
are confusing, standardised Oil Storage Regulations
throughout the UK and indeed Europe would facilitate better
practice for suppliers and distributors, as well as allowing them
to provide superior advice
to end users.