Legal news

摘要

The Court of Appeal ruled early in 2010 on when a party is deemed to be an operator under the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH), in a judgement in connection with the Buncefield explosion. HOSL, the Buncefield site's operating company, was a joint venture between Total and Chevron and was charged with a breach of regulation 4 of COMAH for failing to take all measures necessary to prevent major accident hazards and to limit their consequences. However, HOSL argued that it was not the operator of the site for the purposes of COMAH, and that its prosecution should not therefore continue. Evidence showed that Total was in fact in control of the operations on a day-to-day basis and had, at an early stage, identified itself to the Health & Safety Executive and the Environment Agency (the competent authorities for COMAH) as being the operator of the site.