ADMINISTRATION

In preparing the Draft, the aims of the also likely to be applicable to features committee were to provide information for the of a much wider range of structures. design and construction of fixed offshore structures, bearing in mind recent develop- BDDS 55'lPrice £10.30, may be obtained from . . ments and posslble future requlrements, . .. ldentlfYlng areas where research and . I Sa es Department Whl1st R d L ' oa, ondon NI 9ND. 101, Pentonville development were needed. In addition, harmonization with European and international standards work was considered. It was also resolved that it would be possible to use the DD in conjunction with the Department of Energy's existing publication Offshore installations - guidance on design and construction, and steps were taken to avoid inconsistency between the two, to enable technical material adequately covered in the new BSI Draft to be omitted from future versions of the earlier publication. DD 55 encompasses a wide variety 'of aspects of offshore structures, reflecting the range of work involved. Recommendations are given for design, construction, sea operations and maintenance. Equipment for fixed offshore installations is not covered except in cases where proper structural provision should be made for it. Although concerned primarily with noncomplaint structures associated with the offshore oil and gas industry, DD 55 is MEASUREMENT OF PETROLEUM LIQUIDS AND GASES The British Standards Institution has recently published BS 5579 Standard reference conditions for measurement of petroleum liquids and gases. This standard which is based on the International Rtandard ISO 5024, sets out conditions of temperature, pressure and humidity for petroleum measurement purposes. The standard differs from its international counterpart in that it includes the reference condition for humidity in connection with the measurement of gases. This is normal in the United Kingdom, but is not accepted in certain other countries and is therefore omitted from ISO 5024. BS 5579, price 90p may be obtained from BSI Sales Department, 101, Pentonville Road, London NI 9ND.

PETROLEUM ADMINISTRATION

A talk given by Dr Cecil Johnstone, H.M Inspector of Explosives, Health and Safety Executive, to the Annual

"Firstly I would like to say how pleased

I am to be invited to give a talk to your Association and I that discussion after my talk wll1 be 11vely and informative to me because you have uch better understanding of the a m difficulties of petroleum d .. t a mlnlS t' ra 10n in the field than those of use at headquarters. . troduce the subject I will give resume of the way things or shall I say happened prior to 1974. Up to that date the Exp10s1ves t Inspec rat0 e administered the Petroleum Legislation from central within the Home Office. Whl1e numerous district councils looked after (or d'dn't as the case may be) the local The last guidance to General Meeting of the Association, at Birmingham, on Wednesday 19th April 1978.

local authorities on petroleum was in 1968 when the model codes for construction and licensing of stores, filling stations, distribution depots and major installations were published. With the re-organisation of local authorities in April 1974 the top tier county and metropoliton councils took over the administration of petroleum legislation. There was no coercion from central government on the new councils as to what departments of the local authority should take the responsibility for the petroleum administration and as it turned out there was about a 50 50 split between Fire Authorities and Consumer Protection. Irrespective of which departments were given the responsibility it would

appear to me that the general outcome was to advise the Councils to adopt as conditions of licence those that were recommended in the 1968 Model Code. Once this was done the officers in the field in many cases found that they could not implement discretionary function outlined in the preamble to the mobel codes with regard to existing installations. This resulted in an increased number of appeals to the Secretary of State from agrieved licencees. Prior to the change of local authority function there were about 5 to 8 appeals per year but in the three years 1975, 1976 and 1977 there were 117 appeals made, i.e. approximately 40 appeals per year which is a tremendous increase. Can I digress for a moment. Just after the change of local authority functions the Health and Safety at Work Act came into being. The central administration of the petroleum acts were transferred from the Home Office to the Health and Safety Executive as a result of the explosives inspectorate becoming part of this new organisation. then there was a split in functions within the Health and Safety Executive transport of dangerous goods (including petroleum) being administered by Hazardous Substances Division Group A, while storage of inflammable sUbstances (including petroleum) being administered by Hazardous Substances Division Group B. Only one of the original explosives inspectors (myself) was attached to Group B to give advice on the policy of storage of petroleum. Prior to the Health and Safety at Work Act petroleum appeals were made to the Home Secretary who directed one of his department i.e. an explosives inspector to conduct an enquiry. After the H.S.W. Act began to operate appeals were directed to the Secretary of State for Employment to whom the Health amd Safety Executive is accountable. Arrangements were then made that he would get his technical advice for Hazardous Substances Division Group B and consequently he has appointed me (separately for each appeal) to conduct the enquirl.' es. Now to repeat myself, since January 1975 to December 1977 117 appeals were lodged but fortunately for me 34 of them were withdrawn i.e. 30%. The majority of the remaining appeals emanated from only 6 authorities. Odd ones and twos came from other authorities and many authorities have had no appeals against their decisions. The only deduction I can make from these statistics is that the majority of local authorities are taking note of the discretionary aspect as given in the preamble to the model code and assessed sub standard· filling stations on their individual merits. You will all know that the Health and Safety Executive has arranged a confere!lcp. O!l the and enforcement of the licensing provisions of the Pet. (Con.) Act 1928 to which have been invited one or two members from every County and Metropolitan Council in the U.K. in the hope that a certain amount of harmonisation of outlook may evolve apart from enlightening the central body of control, of the various councils difficulties. Since I have been in so many appeal enquiries over the past 3 years some of the factors which I take into consideration informing my recommendations to the Secretary of State may be of interest to you: Roadway Conditions:Premises in Vicinity:Frequency:Frequency:Supervision:Rural of Urban; width; traffic density; traffic lights- Pedestrian density; water gullies; shopping areas; slopes of roads. occupied as offices, shops or dwelling houses, especially above premises; public houses (cellars); capital value (although not a safety factor) of tanker visits; amounts delivered re venting of tanks. of vehicle refuelling:private use or for resale to public. behaviour of licensee with respect- to housekeeping, i.e. safe handling of other imflammables; like lihood of tenancy termination e.g. retiral no transfer.