Environment Report 2015

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5.5 Accidental Chemical Releases in Context
In 2014, approximately 110 tonnes of chemicals were accidentally released in 207 incidents on the UKCS. There
was a reduction of 20 tonnes in the mass of chemicals released since 2013, but only two fewer reported incidents.
In 2014, approximately 334,100 tonnes of chemicals were used on the UKCS. Accidental releases therefore
accounted for 0.03 per cent of the total mass of chemicals used in 2014. There was a large decrease in the average
reported accidental chemical release size between 2010 (3.98 tonnes) and 2014 (0.61 tonnes).
5.6 Accidental Chemical Releases Breakdown
The chemical PON1 data have been assigned hazard categories to gain greater understanding of any potential
impact on the marine environment. The CEFAS OCNS data48 were used to produce the classifications
detailed below.
Figure 30: Hazard Ranking Categories for the Breakdown of Accidental Chemical Releases
Hazard Ranking Components
PLONOR The PLONOR category includes all those products for which PON1s were submitted that
have been assigned PLONOR (Pose Little Or NO Risk) status by DECC.
Low The Low Hazard category includes OCNS groups D and E as the lowest ecotoxicity
groupings. This excludes products that have official PLONOR rankings.
Medium The Medium Hazard category includes OCNS groups B and C as medium ecotoxicity
groupings.
High The High Hazard category includes OCNS group A as the highest ecotoxicity grouping.
Unattributable The remaining category includes all of those products that are either not categorised
by OCNS or for which sufficient description is not given, and therefore they cannot be
categorised in this model.
48 The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture (CEFAS) Offshore Chemical Notification Scheme (OCNS) chemical
classifications are available at
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