Five companies involved in the Buncefield depot fire of 2005 have been fined a total of £5.35 million and ordered to pay another £4.08m in costs.
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Hertfordshire Oil Storage, which was found guilty last month of failing to prevent major accidents and limit their effects under the Health and Safety at Work Act, was fined £1.4m and £1m in costs for its part in the explosion in Hemel Hempstead.
TAV Engineering and Motherwell Control Systems, which were both found guilty of failing to protect their employees from the disaster, were each ordered to pay £1,000 in fines and £500 each in costs.
The heftiest fine was levied on Total UK, which was ordered to pay a fine of £3.6m and £2.6m in costs. The company had already pleaded guilty to offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Water Resources Act.
The British Pipeline Agency was ordered to pay £300,000 for environmental offences and costs of £480,000.
The verdict, reached at St Alban’s Court earlier today (16 July), followed a joint prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Environment Agency public bodies.
Kevin Myers, HSE’s deputy chief executive, said: "Incidents like the explosion at Buncefield are exceptionally rare. However, society rightly demands the highest of standards from the high hazard industries. Businesses in this sector must manage the risks they create effectively because when things go wrong, the consequences are severe and can destroy lives and shatter local communities.
"Major hazard industries must learn the lessons of events like this. From the board room down companies must ask themselves these questions: do we understand what could go wrong; do we know what our systems are to prevent this happening; and are we getting the right information to assure us they are working effectively."
Around 2,000 were left homeless and 45 injured in the explosion on 11 December, which was caused by some 250,000 litres of oil leaking from a tank.
