Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Gender equality
Practice meets perfect
May/June 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • Topics
  • Safety
  • Incident management
  • Chemicals
Control of contractors
Fire
Noise
Safe systems of work
Chemicals
News

*UPDATE* Copy-out permit allowed Stanlow tank explosion

Open-access content Friday 13th October 2017
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

ESL Fuels, which owned the lower-tier COMAH site at Ellesmere Port where it manufactured fuel products, was fined £100,000, with costs of £17,000 awarded to the HSE, at Liverpool Crown Court over the incident.

In January 2015, waste oil contaminated with cobalt was being cleaned and converted into a clean energy source inside a 6 m-tall vessel (T 227) at the company's North Blend Tank Farm. Nitric acid had been added to remove the cobalt impurities and this caused the waste oil to start to foam and overflow from the vessel into a bund.

To prevent a potential catastrophic overpressure in the tank, ESL installed relief pipework to connect the vessel to an emergency dump tank (T 187) to capture the overflowing foam. T 187 had no vent system, however, and combustible gas built up inside the pipework and secondary tank, creating a flammable atmosphere.

On 19 January, two contract workers were inside the North Blend Tank Farm replacing existing pipework as part of a refurbishment project. They used an angle grinder to cut the pipework connecting the two vessels, which was still operational and not isolated.

The sparks from the grinder ignited the combustible gas inside T 187. No one was injured by the explosion but the vessel's lid detached and landed on a walkway.

The HSE's investigation found that the risk assessment and method statement submitted by the contractor -- and accepted by ESL -- were inadequate and subsequently formed the basis of the insufficient permit-to-work, which had been copied from one prepared the previous week.

The issuer had signed-off the permit that stated hot work would be carried out in the bund of T 227, where the ongoing waste oil treatment process was taking place, the HSE found.

HSE inspector Matt Lea said: "The contractor submitted a risk assessment and method statement for the refurbishment work but the [waste oil treatment] process configuration was changed, as was the route of the pipework. Much of this information was communicated verbally which provided scope for uncertainty and misunderstanding.

"So you've got a live process going on at the same time as refurb work which is not being safely controlled. There are ignition sources being brought into the area which have been accepted and ticked on the permit-to-work by ESL's issuer."

ESL complied with an improvement notice and the three prohibition notices served on it after the explosion. The company amended its permit-to-work system in line with the HSE's Guidance on permit-to-work systems: A guide for the petroleum, chemical and allied industries document (www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg250.htm).

It had previously pleaded guilty to breaching ss 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

You may also be interested in...

HSE

 Fuel co sentenced over Stanlow tank explosion

Wednesday 27th September 2017
During the waste oil recovery process at ESL Fuels’ north blend tank farm at Stanlow Oil Terminal, liquid started to foam and overflow from a storage vessel, Liverpool Crown Court was told.To temporarily remedy the issue, ESL used relief pipework to connect the leaking vessel to an emergency dump tank to collect foam. This caused combustible gases to build up and create a flammable atmosphere in the pipes and secondary tank.
Open-access content
©iStock/smartboy10

 Hotel receptionist passed out from exposure to cleaning agents

Tuesday 24th October 2017
In March 2015 two receptionists were ordered to clean the spa and swimming pool at Fredrick’s Hotel, Restaurant and Spa in Maidenhead. They began vomiting after 30 minutes and one of them passed out.In a separate incident another employee sustained burns while using a decarboniser – a heated stainless steel tank for cleaning equipment and utensils in commercial kitchens – which was running at 82°C.  The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead said its officers visited the site and found staff had not been properly trained in the use of cleaning agents.
Open-access content

 Fatal 3 m fall costs Iceland Foods £2.5m

Wednesday 20th September 2017
On 28 October 2013 contractor Anthony Hopkins visited the Sycamore Road store in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, to replace the filters in an air handling unit on a plant platform above a suspended ceiling in the warehouse. He fell almost 3 m through the ceiling, sustaining fatal injuries.An investigation by Adrian Monkhouse, principal environmental health officer at Rotherham Council, found there were no barriers to prevent falls from the platform. The area immediately in front of its access ladder was only 45 cm wide and cabling presented trip hazards.
Open-access content

 V is for vicarious liability

Tuesday 17th October 2017
In British criminal law, the employer has to look at the evidence that all reasonably foreseeable hazards were identified, and that all reasonably practicable controls were put in place. However, in civil law, vicarious liability is strict, with the organisation liable for what is done (or not done) on its behalf by employees.
Open-access content

 Why the Grenfell Tower inquiry must go beyond the details

Wednesday 18th October 2017
The first part of the inquiry is to establish what happened, with a detailed timeline, how the response was organised and deployed, and the outcomes of dutyholders’ decisions and actions. The second part will explore the “why” questions.We have had significant disasters in the past and as Winston Churchill is reputed to have said, we should “never let a good crisis go to waste”. Learning the lessons and adopting preventive measures is part of the memorial to those who lost their lives and their families.
Open-access content

 Global gathering

Thursday 21st September 2017
Andragogy, digibesity, people-centred safety; even to those with English as their first language, the global gathering of OSH practitioners in Singapore offered some potentially novel terms.Almost 3,500 delegates from more than 80 countries attended the 21st World Congress on Safety and Health at Work in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre from 3 to 6 September.
Open-access content
Topics
Chemicals
Control of contractors
Fire
Noise
Safe systems of work
Chemicals
News
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Health and Safety Improvement Manager

Leeds
£35000 - £50000 per annum
Reference
5452992

SHEQ Systems Advisor

Up to £40000.00 per annum + Car Allowance
Reference
5452988

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ