HSE 'will prosecute' for personal safety failures

When the personal safety of workers is put at risk, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will prosecute, the inspectorate has reasserted.

The note of caution is aimed particularly at companies in the oil industry, following the conclusion of an investigation into the fire at the Buncefield oil depot in 2005.

In this particular case, TAV Engineering was found guilty of personal safety failings on the site, joining Motherwell Control Systems 2003 and Hertfordshire Oil Storage in receiving guilty verdicts relating to the explosion.

The HSE and Environment Agency together form the competent authority for the regulation of the UK's non-nuclear major hazardous industrial sites.

They say: "When companies put workers and members of the public at risk and cause environmental damage we will prosecute."

Hertfordshire Oil Storage also pleaded guilty to contaminating local watercourses by allowing pollution to leak from the site.

Further contamination occurred due to the foams used by firefighters at the scene, the Environment Agency notes.