Case Study
Topic
Impact on Local Authority Performance Targets
Incident / Exercise
Incident: Explosion and Fire at Buncefield Oil Terminal, 11
December 2005
Background and Context
In the early hours of Sunday 11 December 2005, explosions at Buncefield Oil
Storage Depot, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire resulted in a large fire,
which engulfed a high proportion of the site.
Over 40 people were injured; there were no fatalities. Significant damage
occurred to both commercial and residential properties in the vicinity and
2,000 people were evacuated on emergency service advice.
The fire burned for several days, destroying most of the site and emitting
large clouds of black smoke into the atmosphere. Over 16,000 employees
within the adjacent Maylands Industrial Area were unable to access work and
92 businesses were displaced for more than one week. 17 were forced to
permanently relocate.
Overall, the explosion cost local businesses more than £70 million in lost
stock, lost revenue and relocation expenses.
The nature and scale of the incident placed a considerable burden on the
resources of Dacorum Borough Council. Not only did normal service delivery
have to be maintained, but the tasks of managing the ongoing incident
response, the removal of waste, and repairs to housing, created additional
pressures.
How the Topic was Handled
As far as Dacorum Borough Council was concerned, local performance targets
following the incident were not a concern. The decision was taken that
resources and effort should be directed towards managing the recovery phase
and maintaining normal services to a level whereby it was felt that
residents would not be disadvantaged. Maintaining service delivery was
considered to be more important than meeting performance indicators, so
they were effectively suspended for four months.
Whilst there was some limited impact on the closure of accounts, other
significant issues, such as compiling Bellwin Scheme claims, dealing with
insurance issues and undertaking repairs to a large amount of local
authority housing, it also helped turn attention away from the day to day
running of the Borough Council. There appears to be no evidence of any
complaints or issues arising from the suspension of local performance
targets.
Lessons Identified
The key lesson identified by Dacorum Borough Council was that, in the
context of the magnitude of the incident, performance indicators were not
considered to be an issue. Allowing middle managers the freedom to respond
to the ongoing incident, whilst maintaining normal service delivery to
residents, was more important.
The flexibility of staff from Dacorum Borough Council was a key feature of
both the incident response and recovery. Consideration was given to how
existing staff skills could be transferred and utilised to undertake the
many tasks that were necessary.
Contacts for Further Information
Emergency Planning Team, Hertfordshire County Council - emergency.planning@hertscc.gov.uk
