4 steps to ensure your sites remain compliant and operational this winter

Published: 26 September 2022

With winter approaching, the changing weather creates challenges for many sectors. By knowing and understanding the environmental risks on your sites, you can make sure your assets remain compliant and operational.

Shirley Miles, Head of Environmental Protection, offers 4 simple steps to identify your environmental risks and safeguard your sites to help you be ready for whatever this winter has in store.

1. Protect tanks and pipework

If you store fuel on your site, the colder months can bring an increased demand and risk, with tanks and pipes liable to being damaged by freezing temperatures.

A common problem for tanks as the temperature drops is burst pipework, so you need to protect them against corrosion and physical damage.

If heating systems have been switched off over summer, then the system should be checked before switching it back on to ensure the integrity of the tanks and pipes and to avoid the risk of oil spills.

2. Verify integrity of secondary containment (bunding)

Checking the integrity of your bunds is imperative at the start of winter. The changes in temperature from hot to cold can cause bund lining to crack, which may lead to hazardous materials being released into the environment. That means downtime and potential environmental fines.

Checking the pump or valve drains is also a good idea, as there is a greater risk of flooding in the winter.

A specialist can check all the bunds across your sites and offer remediation work to make them safe and compliant before the winter comes.

3. Check your separators

Separators are essential for avoiding pollution. If left unchecked, they can become blocked and their filters saturated, creating a flooding risk or causing polluted water to contaminate the local environment. Ignoring the state of your separators could result in hefty fines and prosecution.

Just before winter is a good time to check your separators, as dust builds up after long dry spells in the summer and turns into silt when it rains, which can quickly cause blockages.

Separator standards

The current standard by which separators should be operated and maintained is BS EN 858-2:2003 Separator systems for light liquids (e.g. oil and petrol). It states that separators should:

Be fitted with an automatic warning device/high-level alarm
Be serviced and maintained on a six-monthly basis as a minimum
Be subject to a maximum interval of a five-yearly integrity test
Have full service and maintenance records available for inspection

4. Ensure drainage is running freely

Ensure all drainage on your sites is running clear and free. Autumn is a good time to do this with the leaves dropping. If your gully pots become blocked with leaves and debris, then a high level of water can mean they become overwhelmed.

Engage a specialist to check the drainage on your sites. If the worst does happen and a flood occurs, having an emergency flood response contract can save you the time and hassle arranging for the water to be pumped out, instead getting your operation back up and running quickly and safely.

Act now to avoid operational downtime

Don’t let something that could have been easily avoided cause downtime to your site’s operations.

We can audit all your sites now and identify all your risks, meaning you can proactively manage these throughout the winter – whatever that may look like.