Our client had a fire as a result of vandalism at their premises in Birmingham. The site separates waste oil for reuse by industry. Polluted fire water runoff from the site entered the surface water drainage during the fire fighting process and was reported by the environment agency as a pollution event.
The immediate impact after the fire showed no significant impact to the site oil storage or containment. However the subsequent investigation made by the Environment Agency, HSE and sites own insurance company highlighted inadequate controls in place to prevent a future pollution event. The regulator requested that the company take immediate action and upgrade the old secondary bunds. The site was quoted a cost of over £300,000 to replace the existing bunds which had not been a cause of the pollution event at the time.
Penstock Solutions were asked by the client to help deliver an affordable solution using our knowledge of best practice guidance CIRIA736. The first task was to understand the site Source-Pathway-Receptor risk and produce a spill model of a fire run off event to latest guidance. We looked at a worst case model, total loss of materials, bund collapse and a 1:10 years storm event over 24hrs (CIRIA 736 4.3.3). Once we understood the worst case scenario we found affordable solutions to control the total area of the site. The tertiary design included fitting one Toggleblok™ valve to the effluent drain to stop all drainage run off. The existing penstock valve was not suitable for pollution control as it leaked and had been fitted in the wrong position to control all runoff from escaping the site. We then raised the table tops and walls at the lowest points of the site to keep all flow contained. During the modelling one vehicle entry point was deemed beyond control and we simply closed off the entrance to deliver a full solution. Once a design scope is available we presented the animation and report to the parties involved, the total bill for control was less than forty thousand pounds.
The business could have kept to the more traditional response of working on the bunds however this would not have prevented a repeat of the original accident. Our team looked at the whole problem and solved containment with design of the tertiary model.
If spill containment and CIRIA736 compliance is currently a consideration for you please do not hesitate to call 01299 823158 or email us, we will be very happy to discuss our solutions with you.
