Oil And Chemical Storage Proves Difficult
Online, September 24, 2012 (Newswire.com) - People who run their own business and store oil or chemicals know how difficult it can be when it comes to understanding the regulations surrounding the industry. The rules are different within the United Kingdom.
Industry insiders have claimed we have one country and effectively four sets of regulations. The regulations for England came out first in 2001 and they cover oil stored in 200 litre drums or above outside.
The Scottish regulations came in four years after that and they also cover 200 litre drums but the difference is that they cover the drums when they're inside the building as well. In a lot of instances the Scottish regulations cover waste oil whereas the English regulations specifically exclude waste oil unless it's waste cooking oil. Last year the Northern Ireland regulations came in and they are slightly different again to the England and Scotland regulations and there's also a Welsh set.
"It does seem to be that the devolution authorities want to be different from everybody else just to stamp their own footprint on it," said industry spokesman Mike Claridge.
Courses, such as one set up by Collister & Glover in North Wales are essential to ensure companies don't find themselves falling foul of the law.
Mr Claridge said getting it wrong would have huge implications for business owners.
"They would get a fine but also what would probably be far greater than the fine would be if they had a spill incident, the cleanup costs. That could be 10 or 15 times more than any fine that you might get for creating the incident in the first place," he said.
