New Scottish Regulatory Requirements
SCOTTISH REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR SAFE STORAGE OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS New Oil Storage Regulations for Scotland came into force on the 1st April 2006. The Water Environment (Oil Storage) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, require that any fuel/oil storage tank capable of holding 200 litres or more to have secondary containment in the form of a drip tray or bund. The scope includes all tanks, drums, IBC's (intermediate bulk storage containers) or mobile bowsers.
Storage tank bunds, or catchpits, should be impermeable to petroleum products and water and be capable of holding 110% of the primary tank or, if more than one tank, 25% of the aggregate volume (whichever is the greater). The bund may be either a conventional constructed bund or a proprietary prefabricated tank in bund (see Figure 1), which can be either open bunded or enclosed bunded. The advantage of the latter is that there is no ingress of rainwater and, therefore, there are no contaminated water disposal costs every few months as with open bunds. Furthermore, all bunds should have no drain openings or drain valves.
It is also important to note that Regulations 6-7(bb) of the Oil Storage Regulations requires the bund and tank to be positioned to minimise any risk of damage by impact. This means that in quarries, building sites or busy transport, warehousing yards storage tanks, especially plastic tanks, should be protected by a crash barrier or similar means if they are near moving plant.
Regulations 6 (2) states " The oil stocks shall be stored in a container which is of sufficient strength and structural integrity, and has been installed so as to ensure that it is unlikely to burst or leak in its ordinary use.
PPG2 SEPA'S Pollution Prevention Guidenote states -
To ensure compliance with the regulations, it is recommended that storage tanks should be type tested to a recognised standard and produced to that standard under a quality assurance system complying with ISO 9001. Steel tanks should comply with BS799, Part 5 (Reference 5) of OFS T-200. Polyethylene tanks should conform to OFS T100 (Reference 1). It is recommended that the tank installers are registered to ISO 9002. BS799 only covers single skin tanks. OFS T200 is based on BS799 but incorporates the requirements of the WER regulations for secondary containment.
Type of Oils
The Regulations apply to any kind of oil including petrol, diesel, mineral oil, heating oil, lubricating oil, waste oil, vegetable and plant oil but does not include uncut bitumen as it was considered this material would solidify in the vicinity of any spillage. The Storage of Agricultural Fuel Oil is now controlled by these Regulations and Regulation 8 removes oil storage from the Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) (Scotland) Regulations 2003.
SCOTTISH LEGISLATION
Staged Implementation
The Regulations will come into force in 3 stages following. These stages are:
1. new tanks (i.e facilities commenced after 1 April 2006) will have to comply within 6 months (1 October 2006)
2. existing tanks at significant risk (i.e. facilities that are located within 10 metres of any surface water or 50 metres of a borehole or well will have to comply within 2 years (1 April 2008).
3. remaining existing tanks will have to comply within 4 years (1 April 2010).
Uncut bitumen is specifically excluded from the definition of oil within the Regulations and is therefore exempt. Bitumen based products which are liquid at normal ambient temperatures e.g. bitumen emulsion, should be stored in accordance with the regulations.
The relevant provisions of Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (as amended) will also apply to handling and storage of waste oil.
Avoiding Risk
So, how do you avoid the risk of non-compliance? The first thing to do is to have a comprehensive survey carried out of all fuel or oils stored on the premises. This should include a risk assessment of ‘significant risk'. The survey should be carried out by a competent person. Their survey report should cover all aspects of the installation, including bunding, ancillary equipment, oil spill control and service and maintenance records.
The report should prioritise any necessary remedial works required and the ‘significant risk' items should be rectified immediately by a competent person, preferably holding an OFTEC OFT/600A certificate. A plan should then be drawn up to bring all the other installations into regulatory compliance by the cut off date of April 2010.
Safe Installations
There are three other points that are vital to a safe installation. Firstly, however good the installation it needs a proper maintenance and service schedule to keep it up to standard. Secondly, the responsible person needs adequate training in receiving petroleum products, knowledge of the ancillary equipment and the use of oil spill materials. Lastly, it should be noted that the oil distribution industry may not deliver to any tanks that do not conform to the regulations as, if a pollution incident occurred, they may be also held liable.
Key differences between Regulations in Scotland and England
Oil Storage regulations are also in force in England under the Control of Pollution (Oil Storage)(England) Regulations 2005.
The requirements of the Regulations can differ with the following key differences:
1. Regulations in Scotland apply to domestic storage above 2500 litres and English Regulations are above 3500 l litres.
2. Regulations in Scotland apply to storage of waste oil whereas waste oil storage is exempt under the English
Regulations.
3. Regulations in Scotland apply to storage of oil in building where as storage within buildings is exempt under the
English Regulations.
4. Regulations in Scotland exempt storage of oil in any installation which is a schedule 1 part A Activity of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 or Schedule 1 Part A process of the Environment Protection (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1991 and premises used as an oil distribution depot for the onward distribution of oil to other places. The English Regulation only exempt storage of oil at premises used for refining oil for the onward distribution of oil to other places.