The Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board (MIIB) has published its initial report on the continuing investigation into the December 2005 explosions and fires at the Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead. It indicates that good progress has been made in identifying the root causes of the incident and includes significant new findings which have come to light since the publication of the third progress report in May. Three areas have been identified as in need of improvement:
In addition, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have issued an urgent warning to sites similar to Buncefield, to make checks on a type of safety system commonly used at COMAH facilities that failed at the Buncefield site. Operators of such facilities must make the checks where TAV level switches, manufactured by Cynergy3 components Limited or their predecessor companies, are fitted to their storage tanks. The explosions at Buncefield arose when a fuel tank became full, and the gauges and safety devices designed to cut off the fuel supply failed.
