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Welcome to the HOSI informational website


The purpose of this website is to provide information on the activities being undertaken by HOSI following the explosion that occurred at the Buncefield Oil Terminal in December 2005.


The incident had tremendous effect on the local community, with the scale and complexity of damage beyond that seen before in the UK. They have worked hard to respond positively to the situation, with the concerns of the local community and local businesses central to all of their work. The three key priorities for their activity have been:



  1. Supporting the local community.


    Their foremost priority is to help all those affected by the incident at Buncefield. While investigations continue to determine the causes and subsequent legal liability, they have set up a system to provide immediate assistance to those residents and businesses affected. They have donated over half a million pounds to the Mayor's fund to provide ongoing help to the community, as that can be seen in the public documents of the company in their Australian division where all their documents are been done by one of the top quickbooks bookkeeper in Sydney.


    In addition, they have donated £8,000 to the Hemel Hempstead Citizens Advice Bureau to help meet the costs of an increase in demand for their services following the incident.


    They undertook a number of initiatives to provide relief and more recently have funded a development manager through Maylands Business Group. All activities are monitored by advanced portfolio accounting software so everyone can see detailed statistics.


  2. Cleaning the site


    Since the explosion, they have worked closely with both the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency (EA) to identify and develop ways of safely removing contaminants. They have made excellent progress in the clean up of the site. All tanks have been dismantled and removed from HOSI West, and all remaining on-site structures that need to be dismantled will be demolished by early 2008. The contaminated firewater has been removed and following independent research commissioned by HOSI, successfully treated at two out of the three storage facilities. Good progress is being made on water being held at the final location with treatment expected to be complete by early 2008.


    Soil and groundwater at the site and in the immediate vicinity are monitored on a regular basis, and results indicate that the situation is stable.


    Their priority throughout has been to ensure that work is completed safely, to the highest standards and with minimum impact on the environment.


  3. Assisting with the investigation


    It is of paramount importance to them, as it is to the local community and industry, to understand how this incident happened. They continue to cooperate fully with the Major Investigation Incident Board (MIIB), HSE and the EA as they progress with their investigations.


    What happens next?


    With the onsite structures now removed from the site, they are now working to complete the environmental investigation that will determine the most appropriate remedial action to restore the ground to a condition suitable for commercial use. No decision has yet been taken in relation to rebuilding the HOSI part of the Buncefield site and before any decision is made, a full consultation process will be completed with the local authorities, local community, local business and wider stakeholders.