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Safety and environmental standards for fuel storage sites
Final report
11
9 This guidance applies to establishments to which the Control of Major Accident Hazards
Regulations 1999 (as amended) (COMAH) apply. It relates to the safety and environmental
measures controlling the storage of liquid dangerous substances kept at atmospheric pressure in
bulk storage tanks. In this guidance liquid dangerous substances are considered to be gasoline,
and other hazardous liquids as defined in the COMAH CA Containment Policy. For the purposes
of this report gasoline is defined as in paragraph 24. PSLG has not defined the meaning of large
storage tanks beyond the definition in paragraph 24 below but rather this guidance should be
interpreted in terms of the major accident risks that may arise from an overfill of a tank or other
large-scale losses of containment from tanks. Figure 1 provides an overview of the application of
this report to existing establishments.
10 This report also provides generic guidance on the storage of bulk hazardous liquids at
COMAH establishments covered by Part 1 of the CA Containment Policy. The CA together with
industry will determine the extent to which this guidance is relevant to other tanks falling within
scope of Part 1 of the Containment Policy and further industry specific guidance will be issued at
a later date.
11 This guidance is not an authoritative interpretation of the law, but if you do follow this
guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Other alternative measures to
those set out in this guidance may be used to comply with the law.
12 PSLG considers that these provisions will, in the majority of cases, meet the requirements
of COMAH Regulation 4. Regulation 4 requires every operator to take all measures necessary to
prevent major accidents and limit their consequences to people and the environment. Regulation
4 requires dutyholders to reduce the risk of a major accident as low as is reasonably practicable
(ALARP).
13 Where this report calls for dutyholders to meet this guidance in full, in certain circumstances
this may not be reasonably practicable for an existing operation. In the instance of overfill
protection, this guidance indicates where such circumstances may arise. However, in such cases
the final decision on the degree of compliance to meet the requirements of COMAH will be a
matter between the dutyholder and the COMAH CA.
Application to new COMAH establishments and existing COMAH establishments
subject to substantial modification
14 All new and substantially modified establishments storing gasoline should follow this guidance
in full with respect to tanks meeting the criteria set out in paragraph 24. For establishments
falling within the scope of the COMAH CA Containment Policy Part 2, dutyholders should comply
with Part 4 of this guidance in full. Other new establishments and modifications falling within the
scope of the Containment Policy should take account of this guidance when determining control
measures for the bulk storage of liquid dangerous substances.
Scope and application