Three companies were this month facing potentially unlimited fines after they were found guilty of legislation breaches in connection with the explosion at the Buncefield oil depot.
TAV Engineering Ltd, of Guildford, Surrey was found guilty of failing to protect workers and members of the public. Motherwell Control Systems 2003 Ltd, which is in voluntary liquidation, was found guilty of the same charge, and Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited (HOSL) was also found guilty of failing to prevent major accidents and limiting their effects as well as causing pollution to enter controlled waters.
The verdicts follow a joint prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency, which was described as their “biggest and most complex criminal inquiry”. The destruction at the Hertfordshire depot came after a massive vapour cloud ignited when 250,000 litres of petrol leaked from one of its tanks. The blast on 11 December 2005, widely thought to be the largest explosion in peacetime Europe, measured 2.4 on the Richter scale and was heard 125 miles away.
During the trial, which started on 15 April, jurors heard that the environmental damage was still not known and could last for decades. Two other companies, Total UK and British Pipeline Agency Ltd also admitted health and safety breaches in connection with the explosion. Sentencing is due to take place at St Albans Crown Court on 16 July.
A HSE spokeswoman commented that the fines for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Water Resources Act 1991 could be unlimited. A joint statement read, “This was the biggest and most complex criminal inquiry we have worked on together – the product of many hundreds of hours of painstaking forensic investigation. When companies put workers and the public at risk and cause environmental damage we will prosecute. The scale of the explosion and fire at Buncefield was immense and it was miraculous that nobody died. Unless the high-hazard industries truly learn the lessons, then we may not be that fortunate in the future.”
