The next step

Sample oil storage checklist

[Checklist]

http publications environment agency gov uk pdf pmho0811bucr e e pdf

[]

Updated guidance on storing oil safely

Official guidance

Because of the significant environmental impact of an oil spill, the law and the guidance that supports it, is very explicit. In this instance, rather than leaving it to businesses to decide what to do, the EA spells out exactly what’s required. In August, it updated Above Ground Oil Storage: PPG2, which is the official guidance on how a business should comply with the legal duties set out in the Oil Storage Regulations (OSR)(see The next step). At the end of this document is a checklist which summarises the points in the guidance and asks you a number of questions about how oil is stored on your site. So to ensure that you’re following the official line, we have updated our checklist to cover the same points as the EA’s.

General requirements

The first part of the document asks some basic questions about your tank. Including:

• “is the tank “fit for purpose” and in good condition (unlikely to leak or burst in normal use)?
• is the tank/containment system located or protected so an impact or collision can’t damage it?”

Secondary containment

The document continues by covering spill containment. The questions include:

• “for a single tank, is the secondary containment at least 110% of the maximum storage of the tank?”

This subject is also covered in more detail later.

Ancillary equipment

As one of the most common causes of pollution is due to a failure of ancillary equipment, such as valves and pipes, the guidance covers them in detail. Here we ask:

• “are all valves, sight gauges, vent pipes and taps within the secondary containment system?
• are fill and draw-off pipes/feed lines located or protected from impact or collision damage?
• are vent pipes, taps and valves arranged so that any oil lost will be retained within the containment system?”

Deliveries

Another common time for incidents to occur is during deliveries. So to ensure that they’re managed properly we ask:

• “is the fill pipe situated within the secondary containment system or, if not, is a drip tray big enough to contain any oil that remains in the pipework after filling available?
• can the tank and vent be seen from the point where the filling operation is controlled or, if not, is the tank fitted with an automatic overfill protection device?”

Tip. If you can’t answer a question, or have answered “no”, it’s likely that your oil storage installation needs to be upgraded to comply with the OSR.

For a link to the EA’s guidance (EN 06.05.05A) and a copy of our sample Oil Storage Checklist (EN 06.05.05B), visit http://environment.indicator.co.uk.