Oil and chemical storage by machinery or electrical equipment businesses
You must store and handle oil and chemicals safely to avoid pollution incidents.
You should try to minimise your use of hazardous substances. Regularly review the hazardous substances you use, and where possible use less harmful alternatives.
This guidance covers the oil you store at your machinery or electrical or electronic equipment (EEE) site. For example, you may use oil:
- as a fuel
- for lubricating your machinery
- as a solvent, eg paraffin or kerosene.
It also covers the chemicals you store at your site. For example you may use chemicals:
- for cleaning
- as pastes and adhesives.
See our guidance on using chemicals.
What you must do
Storing oil
In England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, if you store any kind of oil on your premises you may need to comply with the Oil Storage Regulations.
In Wales the Oil Storage Regulations do not apply.
Even if the regulations do not apply to your business, you should consider meeting their requirements, as they aim to prevent contamination of the ground, surface waters and groundwater. This would be an offence under other legislation.
See our guidance on storing oil in:
England on Business Link: Storing oil
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Storing oil
Scotland on Business Gateway: Storing oil
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Storing oil
Supplying chemicals
If you supply any potentially hazardous material or chemicals, you may need to provide a safety data sheet (SDS). The SDS gives information on how you should handle, store and dispose of chemicals and what to do in the case of an accident.
If you receive a material without an SDS, contact your supplier to find out whether or not they have to provide one.
Preventing major accidents
If you store or use dangerous substances, such as oil or certain chemicals, check whether the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations affect you.
See our guidance on COMAH in:
England on Business Link: Control of major accident hazards (COMAH)
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Control of major accident hazards (COMAH)
Scotland on Business Gateway: Control of major accident hazards (COMAH)
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Control of major accident hazards (COMAH)
Good practice
Storing chemicals
Store all chemicals in an area where you can contain spills. Keep chemical containers within an impermeable secondary containment area that will hold liquids if the main containers leak or break.
Secondary containment areas include bunds, bunded pallets or spill pallets, sump pallets, bunded storage units and storage cabinets with integral sumps.
If you have one oil storage container in a bund, the bund must be able to hold 110% of its volume.
If you have more than one container, your bund must be able to contain at least 110% of the volume of the largest container or 25% of the total volume you are likely to store, whichever is greater.
Maintaining storage areas
Cover storage areas wherever possible to avoid rainwater collecting.
Inspect bunds regularly and remove any rainwater. If the water is contaminated you may need to dispose of it as hazardous/special waste.
See our guidance on hazardous/special waste in:
England on Business Link: Managing your hazardous waste
Northern Ireland on NIBusinessInfo: Managing your hazardous waste
Scotland on Business Gateway: Managing your hazardous waste
Wales on Business.Wales.gov.uk: Managing your hazardous waste
Locate storage tanks as far as possible from drains and watercourses.
Install leak detection devices in oil and chemical storage tanks and bunds.
Lock storage tanks when not in use, to prevent unauthorised access and reduce the risk of vandalism. You are responsible for any pollution incident from your site, even if it is caused by vandals.
Clearly label all tanks with their contents and storage capacity, to prevent overfilling or incorrect filling of storage containers.
Regularly maintain all plant, pipework and other infrastructure.
Regularly test any underground pipework for leaks.
Delivery of materials
Supervise all refuelling operations and only refuel in a contained area away from watercourses or surface water drains.
Use drip trays for all equipment and when refilling containers.
Acids and bases, oxidants and organic liquids should be delivered on separate pallets. Store these materials separately.
Spills and pollution incidents
Have a pollution incident response procedure for dealing with spills. Make sure that all staff are familiar with the procedure and how to implement it.
PPG 21 Pollution incident response planning (Adobe PDF - 112KB)
Keep a spill kit close to oil and chemical storage areas. Make sure that your staff know where it is and how to use it.
Ensure that you have absorbent materials and other containment equipment suitable for the type and quantity of fuel, oil and chemicals you store and use on site.
Report pollution incidents as soon as they happen to the emergency hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
Further information
