The Buncefield Oil Depot Disaster – 2005 Jeremy Evans Director, JECCS Ltd & Ex-Head of Legal Northgate Information Solutions

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster ITV Footage

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster What was the cause? 6.00am, 11 December 2005 – series of explosions 2.4 on the Richter scale Was it terrorists? 7/7 and 21/7 earlier that year… …no – human error/negligence leading to igniting of a vapour cloud Resulting fire – largest in Europe since WWII

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster Significant impact Severe damage to the storage depot & one of UK oil pipelines Some transport links affected for a period of time Private property damage over a wide area National businesses lost offices Northgate lost its HQ and primary data centre – no IT systems working Six years of litigation between claimants & oil companies…

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster …and Then there was the “ripple effect” Northgate was responsible for the processing of approx. 40% of UK company payrolls; and The provision of critical services to UK emergency services 2 weeks to Christmas…”Houston, we have a problem…”

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster

Immediate challenges – a flavour: Injuries or worse Securing the site – looters at work Activating the DR facility – starting the task of restoring service to customers Initial communication to customers – “force majeure” Communication with stakeholders, staff and outside agencies Longer-term challenges – a flavour: Re-housing 500 displaced HQ staff: Temporary Long-term Insurance claim Dealing with customers and their claims Was Northgate negligent in having its HQ so close to the depot? On-going communication during the recovery process

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery: Corporate requirement to have BC and DR plans Some companies will carry out a “live test” of their plan but only against a pre-determined set of circumstances Others may choose to undertake a “walk-through” of their DR plans as Northgate did in the weeks prior to Buncefield The main limitation is that people tend to go through such exercises believing it will never happen to them Consequently, the impact on property damage and potential loss of life can be grossly under-estimated

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (cont.): Despite the close proximity of the depot (it could be seen from the Northgate staff canteen): Assumptions were made that the facility was well-managed, safe and secure The depot was operated on a joint venture basis between Total and Chevron, two respected international organisations HSE (and its forerunners) had approved extensions to the depot in what was a busy and well-populated area What could possibly go wrong?

Managing in a Crisis - The Buncefield Disaster Conclusions: Think the worst outcome – loss of life, etc. Incorporate “shadow teams” into DR planning for each location Test the plan realistically – walk-throughs are theoretical Finally – two short anecdotes to close