Insights archivos - ECI-Hub

Tank Storage Association & ECI Hub (Podcast)

kirsty — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:35:01 +0000

Learning from Buncefield: Terminals Talk Podcast

In December 2025, ECI-Hub partnered with the Tank Storage Association to release an animated case-study video marking the 20th anniversary of the Buncefield explosion – one of the largest peacetime incidents in Europe. In this episode of Terminals Talk, Jon Wallis and TSA CEO Peter Davidson sit down to talk honestly about why Buncefield still matters, what progress the industry has made, and what still concerns them when they’re on site today. It’s not a history lesson. It’s a conversation about whether we’re doing enough to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

This episode of the Terminal Talks Podcast marks the latest step in an ongoing partnership between ECI-Hub and the Tank Storage Association, focused on keeping the lessons of Buncefield accessible and actionable for the industry today.

The conversation builds on the recent release of the animated Buncefield anniversary case-study video, a joint output between ECI-Hub and the TSA,and explores how organisations across high-hazard industries can keep critical safety lessons alive through clear, accessible training and shared learning.

For ECI-Hub, this collaboration reflects a core part of our mission: making it easier for the sector to learn from past incidents, not just document them. Working alongside the Tank Storage Association gives these lessons a wider platform and keeps them in active use – through training, case studies, and ongoing conversations like this one, rather than letting them fade from institutional memory.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

How the Buncefield incident continues to shape safety culture, training, and practice today
Why accessible, ongoing learning is critical to preventing repeat incidents
The role of collaboration and knowledge-sharing across high-hazard industries
The story behind ECI-Hub and the animated case-study video marking the anniversary

Watch The Animated Buncefield Case-Study Video

Designed to make the lessons of Buncefield clear and accessible to everyone in the sector, this animated case-study video revisits the events of 11 December 2005 and why they continue to matter more than twenty years on. Released by ECI-Hub and the Tank Storage Association, it supports the ongoing work of training, shared learning, and collaboration that keeps critical safety knowledge alive.

Try The Buncefield Simulation Game - Free

We’ve built an interactive simulation game based on the events of 11 December 2005. Work through the decisions made that night. See how the layers of protection failed one by one. Understand how small failures compound into catastrophe.
It’s free. It’s open to anyone. And it takes less time than reading an incident report – but it’ll stick with you longer. Use it for your own learning, share it with your team, or drop it into your next toolbox talk or safety briefing.

Coming soon. Leave your name and email below and we’ll let you know the moment it’s live.

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Insights

Buncefield Disaster

January 28, 2026 No Comments

Buncefield: Lessons for Today’s High‑Hazard Industries INSIGHT What’s The Most Effective Way To Improve Integrity Across The Board? The Buncefield explosion remains one of the ...

Insights

Buncefield Disaster (Video)

January 22, 2026 No Comments

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Buncefield explosion, ECI-hub, in partnership with the Tank Storage Association (TSA), have launched a new animated case-study video ...

La entrada Tank Storage Association & ECI Hub (Podcast) se publicó primero en ECI-Hub.

The Importance Of Design Choices To Shape Safety

kirsty — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 09:02:08 +0000

INSIGHTS

The importance of design choices to shape safety

In high-hazard industries, early design choices shape safety, compliance and operational success for years to come. Strong planning, clear standards, and engaged expertise ensure projects run smoothly, meet compliance from the outset, and deliver long-term value. We’ve worked alongside engineering teams across oil and gas, power, nuclear, water treatmentand renewables, witnessing how proactive design approaches transform outcomes.

The Challenge

High-hazard facilities face a fundamental tension: design decisions made early, often under time and budget pressure, carry consequences that last the entire operational lifecycle. Errors or omissions at the design stage are far more costly to resolve later. Without structured assurance from the outset, projects risk non-compliance, rework, and long-term safety vulnerabilities.

5 questions to ask yourself to strengthen design assurance

When supporting design teams, we focus on planning and verification, the twin pillars of safe and reliable outcomes. To guide projects, we ask five key questions:

Planning foundations — Have all relevant standards (IEC 60079, IEC 61511, EI15, SR25) been identified, and has a provisional Hazardous Area Classification (HAC) been developed to inform safer design?
Risk awareness — Are risk boundaries defined, and is there a review process to keep risk assessments and HAC current as design evolves?
Competence assurance — Are team members demonstrably competent in the standards they apply, with roles and responsibilities clearly documented?
Design appraisal — Has the design been reviewed for practicality, fit for purpose, and equipment suitability, with assumptions documented and traceable?
Independent verification — Is there dedicated time and budget for independent review to confirm compliance and strengthen assurance?

Positive design practices we recommend

Plan compliance from the start, integrating standards into early design decisions.
Use provisional HACs to guide inherently safer plant design and inform equipment selection.
Apply the hierarchy of control (open air, LEV, MEV) to optimise solutions.
Consider different protection concepts (for example, Intrinsically Safe vs Flameproof) for the most effective and maintainable option.
Confirm all safety device and equipment certifications at the purchasing stage.
Keep documentation current as the project evolves, maintaining alignment between safety, engineering, and operational goals.
Prioritise competence verification at every stage of the lifecycle.

What the standards say

Standards such as IEC 61511 (Functional Safety) and IEC 60079 (Explosive Atmospheres) are clear: safety is a lifecycle responsibility, and the design phase sets the foundation for everything that follows. Core requirements include conducting hazard and risk assessments early, developing clear Safety Requirement Specifications (SRS) and SIL assessments, engaging competent personnel throughout, selecting and certifying equipment that aligns with intended use, and building independent verification into the process.

Would you like to take a closer look at your design process?

Download our Design Appraisal Checklist to support planning, design reviews, and independent verification in your next high-hazard project.

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Designing for DSEAR Compliance

January 29, 2026 No Comments

Most DSEAR problems don’t happen because people ignore the regulations. They happen because of small, early decisions often made before anyone realises their long-term impact. ...

La entrada The Importance Of Design Choices To Shape Safety se publicó primero en ECI-Hub.

Case Study – Ex Awareness

Jon — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:50:08 +0000

CASE STUDY

Hazardous Area Training – CompEx Awareness Delivered On-site

Are the people working in your hazardous areas fully aware of the risks they are exposed to and the controls that keep them safe?

A client ** can we say who?/ what industry/some more details** operating in hazardous areas required structured EX Awareness training for personnel regularly working in potentially explosive atmospheres.

The objective was to improve risk awareness, reinforce safe behaviours and ensure personnel understood how hazardous area controls apply to their day-to-day activities.

The client wanted delivery that was practical, relevant, and aligned to their ***can we outline what the specific site rilsk are**specific site risks.

The Challenge

The client operated within classified hazardous areas where explosive atmospheres could be present during normal or foreseeable abnormal conditions. Several members of their team were required to enter these environments as part of routine operations and maintenance activities.

They did not require installation or inspection certification. However, they did require structured awareness of:

Hazardous area zoning and what it means in practice
Sources of ignition and how they arise
The purpose of Ex protection concepts
The behaviours and decisions that prevent escalation

For the engineering manager and duty holder, the risk exposure was clear. Personnel working in hazardous areas without appropriate awareness increases the likelihood of unsafe acts, equipment misuse, and unintended ignition risk.

At the same time, the business needed to control downtime, travel costs, and operational disruption.

The requirement was straightforward: deliver technically sound EX Awareness training that was directly relevant to their plant, without unnecessary impact on production.

The Solution

We began with a focused discussion to understand the client’s hazardous area classifications, operational activities, and the experience profile of their personnel.

This allowed us to tailor the session to their specific risk environment rather than deliver a generic awareness course.

Training was delivered on site and provided several practical advantages:

No travel or accommodation costs
Minimal downtime for operational teams
Training scheduled around shift patterns
Immediate reference to real plant and hazardous locations

During the session, discussions were anchored to the client’s actual assets and work activities. We explored how explosive atmospheres could arise within their process, what controls were in place, and how individuals contribute to maintaining those controls.

This ensured the learning was grounded in operational reality and aligned with recognised hazardous area principles.

The Impact

The client achieved measurable operational benefits:

Improved confidence among personnel entering hazardous areas
Clearer understanding of ignition risk and control measures
Greater alignment between site practice and hazardous area intent
Reduced disruption compared to off-site training

For managers and duty holders, the outcome was reassurance.

They could demonstrate that personnel working within classified areas had received structured awareness training contextualised to their own plant. This strengthened competence, supported compliance expectations, and reinforced safe decision-making at the point of work.

Most importantly, the training increased practical understanding rather than simply transferring information.

Book Training or Speak to the Team

If you are responsible for teams working in hazardous areas, structured EX Awareness training provides a practical layer of risk control.

We deliver tailored sessions at your site, aligned to your hazardous area classifications and operational environment. This approach minimises disruption while strengthening competence where it matters most.

Contact us to arrange a discussion about your plant, your personnel, and how on-site EX Awareness training can support safe work in your hazardous areas.

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Designing for DSEAR Compliance

January 29, 2026 No Comments

Most DSEAR problems don’t happen because people ignore the regulations. They happen because of small, early decisions often made before anyone realises their long-term impact. ...

La entrada Case Study – Ex Awareness se publicó primero en ECI-Hub.

Case Study Template

kirsty — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 10:52:32 +0000

Case Study Template

CASE STUDY

Title

Introduction

A concise and engaging intro paragraph or couple of sentences.

Purpose: Set the scene and give context.

Outline why the reader should care and who this is for.

Content to include:

Who the client or project is (brief background).
The industry or context if relevant.
A one liner of what the case study is about.

The Challenge

Purpose: Explain the problem the client faced. Why ECI-Hub was required.

Content to include:

The main pain points or obstacles.
Why this problem was significant (impact on business, users, or something else).
Any constraints or complications that made the challenge harder.

The Solution

Purpose: Show how ECI-Hub helped the client addressed the challenge.

Show the reader what we do at ECI-Hub.

Content to include:

The strategy, approach used
How long it took
Any key actions or steps taken.
Any innovative or unique solutions
Anything that might set ECI-Hub apart from other competitors

The Impact

Purpose: Demonstrate the results and value delivered by ECI-Hub.

Content to include:

Measurable outcomes (numbers trained, time saved, etc.)
Any graphs, stats etc.
Any client feedback or testimonials

The Call To Action

Purpose: Guide the reader on what to do next (book a training course/ contact us about consultancy work)

Tell the reader “what now”.

Content to include:

Contact our consultants/up coming training dates/download this resource etc.
Reinforce the benefit of taking that action (tie it to the success shown in the case study).
Keep this section short, clear, and actionable.

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Insights

Designing for DSEAR Compliance

January 29, 2026 No Comments

Most DSEAR problems don’t happen because people ignore the regulations. They happen because of small, early decisions often made before anyone realises their long-term impact. ...

La entrada Case Study Template se publicó primero en ECI-Hub.

Designing for DSEAR Compliance

kirsty — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 12:28:38 +0000

Designing for DSEAR Compliance

INSIGHT

Why The Design Stage Matters

Most DSEAR problems don’t happen because people ignore the regulations. They happen because of small, early decisions often made before anyone realises their long-term impact.

On many projects, DSEAR is assumed to be something that will be picked up later. Sometimes it’s treated as an operational issue. Sometimes hazardous area classification is delayed until layouts or equipment are already fixed. Sometimes responsibility isn’t clear, and everyone assumes someone else is covering it.

By the time these gaps are noticed, the project has usually moved on. Equipment has been specified or installed, assumptions are hard to undo, and compliance becomes reactive. Fixing the problem then means redesign, rework, delay or accepting a level of risk that no one is really comfortable with.

This presentation looks at DSEAR the way they play out in real projects. It follows the project lifecycle from early design through to operation, showing how risk assessment, hazardous area classification, equipment selection and competency management connect.

The content within the presentation is grounded in real experience from projects across wastewater treatment, power generation and gas systems. It reflects situations where DSEAR was considered too late, equipment was procured before the basis of safety was clear, or changes were made without proper management of change and contrasts them with projects where early coordination led to safer, more controlled outcomes.

What you’ll discover in this presentation:

Why early DSEAR thinking consistently leads to safer and more practical designs
How DSEAR responsibilities evolve across the project lifecycle
Where hazardous area classification adds the most value (and where it’s often left too late)
Common design and procurement mistakes seen on real projects
Simple steps that could have prevented costly delays, rework, and non-compliance

Author: Graham Doggett

Hazardous Area Trainer and Consultant

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La entrada Designing for DSEAR Compliance se publicó primero en ECI-Hub.

Buncefield Disaster

kirsty — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:22:05 +0000

Buncefield: Lessons for Today’s High‑Hazard Industries

INSIGHT

What’s The Most Effective Way To Improve Integrity Across The Board?

The Buncefield explosion remains one of the largest peacetime incidents in Europe. A failure of level control allowed a petrol tank to overfill undetected for several hours, forming a dense vapour cloud that drifted off-site and ignited with devastating force – registering 2.4 on the Richter scale and causing over £1 billion in damage.

Two decades later, Buncefield’s technical and organisational lessons continue to shape UK process safety guidance on overfill protection, secondary containment, vapour cloud explosion hazards and leadership accountability. Yet many new engineers, operators, apprentices and contractors joining the sector today have never heard of the incident.

This free in-depth Hazardex article reflects on the enduring lessons from Buncefield and how organisations can maintain corporate memory to prevent repeat disasters. You’ll learn:

How the Buncefield disaster happened and why its causes still appear in audits today.
Post-incident improvements that reduce risk only if actively maintained.
Emerging threats, from ageing assets to a retiring workforce, that erode safety gains.
Three critical questions every organisation should ask about major-accident hazards.
Five practical actions to preserve safety knowledge and keep your teams aware of why safeguards exist

Author: Jon Wallis

Managing Director of ECFIO Engineering Ltd. / ECI-Hub

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Insights

Tank Storage Association & ECI Hub (Podcast)

July 1, 2026 No Comments

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Buncefield explosion, ECI-hub, in partnership with the Tank Storage Association (TSA), have launched a new animated case-study video ...

Insights

Buncefield Disaster (Video)

January 22, 2026 No Comments

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Buncefield explosion, ECI-hub, in partnership with the Tank Storage Association (TSA), have launched a new animated case-study video ...

La entrada Buncefield Disaster se publicó primero en ECI-Hub.

Buncefield Disaster (Video)

Jon — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:30:44 +0000

Buncefield Disaster

New Animated Buncefield Case Study Launched on 20th Anniversary to Preserve Critical Safety Lessons

ECI-hub and Tank Storage Association release powerful learning resource for COMAH sites, storage terminals and high-hazard industries.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Buncefield explosion, ECI-hub, in partnership with the Tank Storage Association (TSA), have launched a new animated case-study video that brings the events of 11 December 2005 vividly to life as an engaging, practical training tool.

The explosion remains one of the largest peacetime incidents in Europe. A failure of level control allowed a petrol tank to overfill undetected for several hours, forming a dense vapour cloud that drifted off-site and ignited with devastating force – registering 2.4 on the Richter scale and causing over £1 billion in damage.

Jon Wallis, Founder of ECI-hub, said: “Many senior leaders in process industries remember Buncefield. What concerns me is that most new entrants cannot explain what happened or why multiple layers of protection failed simultaneously. This animation is designed to share the learning to prevent incidents like these happening again.”

How the Layers of Protection Failed

Using clear animation and a simple “Swiss Cheese” model, the short video traces the incident step-by-step:

Asset Integrity & Instrumentation – A stuck automatic tank gauge and a non-functional independent high-high level switch allowed uncontrolled overfilling.
Secondary & Tertiary Containment – Bunds and drainage systems were not leak-tight; risk assessments had assumed they were.
Hazard Awareness – The possibility of a large, unconfined vapour cloud explosion had been overlooked in favour of pool-fire scenarios.
Human Factors & Safety Culture – Alarm flooding, inadequate shift handover, low staffing levels and normalisation of deviance all eroded situational awareness.
Emergency Response – Plans were not designed for a multi-tank vapour cloud explosion and prolonged major fire.

The video translates each failure into today’s regulatory expectations (e.g. SIL/LOPA justification, proof-testing regimes, COMAH Safety Report requirements, PSA leadership principles) and highlights early warning signs that still appear on sites today.

If you would like a video like this for your site or industry – please Contact Us.

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Insights

Tank Storage Association & ECI Hub (Podcast)

July 1, 2026 No Comments

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Buncefield explosion, ECI-hub, in partnership with the Tank Storage Association (TSA), have launched a new animated case-study video ...

Insights

Buncefield Disaster

January 28, 2026 No Comments

Buncefield: Lessons for Today’s High‑Hazard Industries INSIGHT What’s The Most Effective Way To Improve Integrity Across The Board? The Buncefield explosion remains one of the ...

La entrada Buncefield Disaster (Video) se publicó primero en ECI-Hub.