Refining company fined £1.65 Million

An oil company has been fined £1,650,000 with costs of £57,644 following an explosion at a refinery in Cheshire.  The HSE investigation of the incident, which occurred in November 2013, found that:

• A safety critical valve was ordered and installed incorrectly and the company failed to correctly validate its operation
• The company failed to adequately assess the installation of a new safety critical trip as they failed to recognise the system had a by-pass line which defeated the trip’s operation.
• The company’s policy was to isolate main fuel lines to the furnace however, the hydrocarbons entered the furnace via a secondary fuel line which had not been isolated when shut down.