Esso fined £1m after Fawley oil refinery collapse

Esso have been fined £1m after a structural collapse released around 2.4 tonnes of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), an investigation has found.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found long-standing corrosion of a steel tower was not dealt with at the Fawley Oil Refinery which it said "could have been far worse".

Southampton Magistrates' Court heard the company admitted a health and safety offence in relation to an incident on the 8 November 2022.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said: "Safety is our number one priority and we acknowledge this incident fell short of the standards expected."

HSE's investigation found that the structural collapse caused by corrosion had been identified as early as 2010, but the company failed to take appropriate action to control the risk.

The incident saw around 400kg of the gas released in just over 30 minutes following the collapse with 2.4 tonnes being released over a 33 hour period.

Workers were in the vicinity at the time of the collapse and were exposed to the risk of serious injury from falling debris, as well as potential burns had the gas ignited.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

Emergency measures, including the use of water curtains, were implemented to reduce the spread of the extremely flammable vapour.

It took about 33 hours to isolate the affected process and safely vent the remaining substances to the flare system.

The company was fined £1m and ordered to pay £12,277 in costs at Southampton Magistrates' Court.

HSE's specialist chemicals, explosives & major hazards division inspector, Amanda Huff said: "This incident resulted in the uncontrolled release of a large quantity of flammable gas, which exposed workers to very real and potentially life-threatening risks.

"The underlying cause was a failure to properly manage the integrity of plant and equipment, despite corrosion being identified many years earlier.

"Workers and the wider public have every right to assume that sites processing large quantities of highly flammable chemicals are being properly managed.

"It is vital for companies to make sure robust systems are in place to maintain critical infrastructure safely."

She added: "This incident could have been far worse, and today's sentence reflects the seriousness of the breaches our investigation uncovered."

An ExxonMobil spokesperson said: "We have cooperated fully with the authorities throughout and have put in place measures to prevent such incidents from happening again."