ABSTRACT
The UK's most severe onshore industrial explosion since Flixborough occurred one winter weekend in 2005. Thankfully no one was killed but 1 billion-worth of damage and distress was caused by a simple, preventable mistake. Contamination of soil and ground water, caused by fuel spillage from inadequate bunding and the foam and water which ran off during the firefighting operation, is still being monitored by the Environment Agency as toxic chemicals were involved in the fire. One of the initial explosions was so massive that the blast is reputed to have been heard as far away as Holland and Belgium. Most of the site was destroyed, including 23 large storage tanks which had contained various highly flammable fuels. The Buncefield disaster fell within the criteria for a major accident as defined by the Seveso Directives, under which the UK competent authority' is obliged to send its findings to the European Commission.
