The Reclassification of the Flashpoint of Diesel

The reclassification of diesel as a flammable liquid under the CLP Legislation (classification, labelling and packaging of chemical substances and mixtures) has serious implications for the storage and use of diesel/gas oil in the manufacturing, transportation, power generation and heating industries. The HSE have updated HSG176 on the storage of flammable liquids in response to the Buncefield disaster. HSG176 is the industry standard for the storage of flammable liquids. This update has brought any products with a flash point of up to 60C into the requirements of HSG176.

The HSE has stated that there should be no financial implications relating to this reclassification, however through ongoing discussions that we have had with them, it is very clear that this is not the case, indeed the costs attached to reclassification could very easily run into the £100M’s, with virtually every existing diesel storage system now non-compliant with the updated HSG176.

Blake Group is fully engaged with our clients, suppliers and the main trade associations to seek clarification on what is a critical issue for the downstream oil industry.

We would be grateful to have any comments you might have to allow us to feed back into our consultation with the key stakeholders and please direct any queries to Ronnie, Ronnie_blake@blakegroup.co.uk, (0131 554 1646).