Industrial Accidents and Environmental Pollution
Industrial Accidents: the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) [External website] is the lead department for England and Wales, with the Scottish Executive [External website] and Northern Ireland Executive [External website].
Pollution on the land is managed by Defra [External website] working with the Environment Agency [External website] and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) [External website] in Scotland and the Department for Environment, Planning and Countryside [External website] in Wales.
Pollution from vessels and offshore installations is managed in the UK by Counter Pollution Branch of Department for Transport's Maritime & Coastguard Agency [External website]. In Scotland it is as for UK but with SEPA [External website] involvement.
Site Clearance is the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) [External website].
See the CBRN pages for further details on Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear incidents.
On this page:
The Level of Risk
The UK has one of the most sophisticated regimes for maintaining industrial safety and tackling pollution, building on a strong track record which dates back to the nineteenth century.
The UK's record is already commendable, with fatal accidents reduced by over two thirds since the introduction of the landmark Health and Safety at Work etc Act in 1974. And rivers and bathing waters are the cleanest on record thanks to years of investment by industry. Clearly hazards remain however, and everyone in the workplace has a responsibility to identify them and take steps to mitigate the risks as far as possible.
On the basis of historical data and statistical analysis, the Government assesses that it is both reasonable and sensible to plan for a variety of different industrial accidents and environmental pollution hazards.
The key hazards involve fire or explosion in our petrochemical (gas and oil - including pipelines, storage, refineries and platforms) industry; releases of toxic chemicals, radioactive material (from a nuclear reactor accident or an accidental release from incorrectly handled or disposed of sources) and a controlled biological substance; a major contamination incident with widespread implications for the food chain; maritime pollution (a major crude oil spillage and a more localised pollution incident in controlled waters); a major land contamination incident (i.e. as a result of a chemical spillage); a major air quality incident and an industrial explosion.
Examples
The table below shows some examples of the specific risks which are assessed as part of the national risk assessment framework. The framework applies locally, regionally, in the devolved administrations and at the UK level. Details of the framework and risk assessment methodology can be found in the risk section of this site.
Risk Evaluation
| Type of Risk | Risk Categories | Outcome Description for Planning Purposes |
|---|
| Hazard |
Fire or explosion at a gas terminal or involving a gas pipeline |
Up to 3km around site causing up to 10 fatalities and 100 casualties. |
|---|
| Hazard |
Fire or explosion at an onshore fuel pipeline |
Up to 1km around site causing up to 100 fatalities and up to 500 casualties. Explosions would cause primarily crush / cuts & bruises type injuries, as well as burns - fires would cause predominantly burn-type injuries. |
|---|
| Hazard |
Industrial accident involving toxic release |
Up to 1km from site causing up to 10 fatalities and up to 100 casualties. |
|---|
| Hazard |
Maritime Pollution |
Spillage of up to 100,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea, polluting up to 200km of coastline. Potentially significant damage to amenity value (i.e. tourism), agriculture/commerce and aquatic ecosystem. |
|---|
Key Guidance Documents
- BERR - Downstream Oil Emergency Response Plan [External website] The Downstream Oil Emergency Response Plan identifies how the resources of the downstream oil industry and the Government can be used in an emergency. The DBERR conducted a command and control exercise, known as Exercise Gemini, with Defra and representatives of the oil and the food supply industries on May 10th in order to test and strengthen business continuity processes. ("Downstream" means the supply of oil products after they leave the refineries to their use by consumers.)
- National Chemical Emergency Centre [External website] - UK's 24-hour response centre, with clear, impartial advice for chemical health-and-safety compliance and for emergencies
- HAZCHEM UK [External website] - information for emergency services
Further Links
- MOD: Directorate of Safety & Claims - Nuclear Accident Response [External website] The Ministry of Defence maintains a Nuclear Accident Response Organisation (NARO) to deal with the consequences of any accident (including one arising through terrorist acts) affecting the UK, or Overseas Territories, involving nuclear weapons, special nuclear materials, nuclear facilities or naval reactors.
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