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Glossary

3-com
A business whose premises were effected by the Buncefield incident.
ACMH
Advisory Committee on Major Hazards.
Aquifer
A water-bearing stratum of porous rock, gravel or sand.
BAA
BAA plc operate airports, including London Heathrow
Boreholes
A cylindrical shaft drilled into the ground, often for geological exploration or extraction of resources.
Bund
An enclosure designed to contain fluids should they escape from the tank or vessel inside the bund.
Catherine House
A building effected by the Buncefield incident.
COMAH
The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 Regulations (COMAH). See annex 1
COMAH sites
A site to which the COMAH Regulations apply.
Competent Authority
The COMAH Regulations are enforced by a joint Competent Authority (CA) comprising HSE and EA in England and Wales, and HSE and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) In Scotland. The CA operates to a Memorandum of Understanding which sets out arrangements for joint working
Dangerous dose
A dose large enough to lead to: severe distress to all; a substantial number requiring medical attention; some requiring hospital treatment; and some (about 1%) fatalities.
Dioxin
Toxic chemical by-products of incineration and some industrial processes that use chlorine.
Duty holder
In the context of this report, any person or organisation holding a legal duty – in particular those placed by the HSW Act, the MHSWR, and the COMAH Regulations
Fire water
Water stored for use during, and used during, fire-fighting operations
Foam concentrate
In the context of this report, a concentrate used during operations to extinguish hydrocarbon fires.
Fuji
A business whose premises were effected by the Buncefield incident.
Hazard
Anything with the potential to cause harm.
Human factors
HSE has defined human factors (also known as Ergonomics) as the environmental, organisational and job factors, and human and individual characteristics that influence behaviour at work.
Hydrocarbon
An organic chemical compound of hydrogen and carbon. There are a wide variety of hydrocarbons such as crude oil (basically a complex mixture of hydrocarbons), methane, propane, butane, etc. They are often used as fuels.
Northgate
A business whose premises were effected by the Buncefield
On and off-site and emergency plans
Operators of top-tier COMAH sites must prepare adequate emergency plans to deal with the on-site consequences of possible major accidents and to assist with off-site mitigation. Local authorities for areas containing top-tier COMAH sites must prepare adequate emergency plans to deal with the off-site consequences of possible major accidents, based on information supplied by site operators.
Particulates
Fine particles (liquid or solid) suspended in the air such as dust, smoke, fumes, and so on.
Pasquill stability category
A category within a classification scheme used to describe the degree of atmospheric turbulence
Pollution dispersion model
A model used to describe the transport and diffusion of pollutants in the atmosphere.
Prohibition Notice
Issuing improvement or prohibition notices are some of the range of means which enforcing authorities use to achieve the broad aim of dealing with serious risks, securing compliance with health and safety law and preventing harm. A prohibition notice stops work in order to prevent serious personal injury.
Responder responder,
Under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, EA is a Category 1 and HSE is a Category 2 responder. These categories define the roles played by each body in response to a major incident
Risk
The likelihood that a hazard will cause a specified harm to someone or something.
RO
A business whose premises were effected by the Buncefield Incident.
Run-off
Uncontained liquid, either deposited on-site as rain, or in the context of the Buncefield incident, fuel and/or fire water not contained as part of the operation to control the incident.
Safety reports
The COMAH Regulations require operators of top-tier sites to submit written safety reports to the Competent Authority tier The COMAH Regulations apply where threshold quantities of dangerous substances identified in the Regulations are kept or used. There are two thresholds, known as ‘lower-tier’ and ‘toptier’. COMAH under the Links menu choice gives a brief background to the origins of these Regulations.
Volatile temperature
A substance which evaporates readily, even below its boiling.
Watercourses
A natural or man-made channel along which water flows.