of Administration

precautions to be taker- against a variety of common, possihly unsuspected, hazards and lists the legislative requirements at present in force.

Copies of BS 5607, may be ohtained from BSI Sales Department, 101, Pentonville Road, London, NI 9ND. Price £5.60.

BRITISH STANDARDS FOR ENGINE TESTING OF FUELS

BSI has recently implemented three International Standards relating to the engine testing of fuels, as British Standards.

BS 2637 Motor and aviation-type fuels Determination of knock characteristics Motor method (ISO 5163).

BS 2638 Motor fuels - Determination of knock characteristics - Research method(ISO 5164). B8 5580 Diesel fuels - Determination of ignition quality - Cetane method (ISO 5165)

The first two are revisions of the standards published during 1956 and the other is new. They reproduce the International Standards together with national forewords and make reference to the corresponding test methods published by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The ASTM methods have been recognised as de facto International Standards by the publication of ISO 5163-5 and the details of the methods are not reproduced.

These standards, price £1.40 each, may be obtained from BSI Sales Department 101, Pentonville Road, London NI 9ND.

PETROLEUM (CONSOLIDATION) ACT, SOME ASPECTS OF ADMINISTRATION 1928

A TALK GIVEN BY MR. KAY TO THE CONFERENCE ON ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF THE LICENSING PROVISIONf OF THE PETROLEUM (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1928, HELD BY THE H.S.E. IN LONDON ON 14th APRIL 1978.

In recent years, two major changes have taken place in the way that the licensing provisions of the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act, 1928 are administered and enforced. The first change resulted from the reorganisation of local government in the Local Government Acts of 1972 and 1973, which gave the responsibility for licensing to the first-tier local authori ties, and this was followed the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, 1974 to which the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act became scheduled. One of the requirements of the HSW Act is that scheduled should be progressively replaced by health and safety regulations and so the Executive is committed to replacing the 1928 Act in a few years time. If one looks back at the vast quantities of petroleum spirit which have been R.W. Kay Health and Safety Executive.

stored, bought and sold over the past fifty years - we have now reached the stage where a grandmother can drive into an unattended self-service station and operate the pump - then it would appear that the 1928 Act has worked fairly well.

One of the difficulties which has faced the Executive in these new responsibilities is that, in the policy branch in London, we are somewhat remote from the storage problems which face licensing authorities in the field. There has been a need for better contact at local level and a Factory Inspector in each area office has now been appointed to liaise with the licensing authorities in his area. It is hoped that this arrangement will produce some mutual benefit in the discussion of local problems. The scheme only came into operation in the Autumn but already there is evidence that useful co-operation is taking place.

Before the reorganisation of local government there were about 1,700 licensing authorities, mainly district councils, and the Home Office as the responsible government ministry had the task of ensuring that uniform standards of licensing were applied throughout the country. This resulted finally in the preparation of the Model Codes of Principles of Construction and Licensing Conditions which gave advice on these standards. The present position, with the replacement of the large number of district councils by sixty-six first-tier local authorities, has given a new opportunity for the achievement of consistent standards.

However our contacts with licensing authorities over the past two years have shown that there is still some variation in approach, particularly with regard to the older type of premises, and that there are problems in other areas of licensing which are of particular concern to certain authorities but which have been resolved by others. These variations are to some extent reflected in the number and origin of the appeals which are being determined by the Secretary of State. It is hoped that a conference of this type will give use a better appreciation of these problems.

In all the recent changes which have taken place, there is one group of licensing authorities, the harbour authorities, who have continued with the 'same responsibilities. It is probably because of their longer experience of licensing matters that there have been fewer contacts between the harbours and the Executive.

The result of the twin effects of new licensing authorities and amalgamation with the Health and Safety at Work Act has been to concentrate the work of the Executive in certain areas.

ENFORCEMENT

The 1928 Act, while appointing authorities for the purpose of licensing, is silent as to who should enforce the storage provisions of the Act. This omission did not present many problems in the past. Inspection of premises was achieved,as part of the normal licensing work and any prosecution could be instituted by an officer and continued under the genenU powers of the Local Government Acts. With the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act, the position changed since, in England and Wales, proceedings for an offence could be instituted by an inspector appo1nted by an enforcing authority, (or by or with consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions). It was necessary to find an interim solution to this problem and the Executive appointed one or two officers in each of the relevant authorities as inspectors with powers to institute and conduct proceedings.

A more permanent solution is being sought and it is hoped that this can be achieved by means of health and safety regulations which would make licensing authorities the enforcing authorities for the storage provisions of the 1928 Act.

Authorities would then be able to appoint their own officers as Inspectors with the necessary powers under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

APPEALS

When the Executive assumed responsibility for the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act, appeals against decisions of licensing authorities had been running at about 5-8 per year, but as the following table indicates, there has been a marked increase over the past three years.

With one exception, the appeals have been heard by an inspector of the Executive but the final determination of the appeal rests with the Secretary of State. There are several aspects of the increase in the number of appeals on which we would like to comment. The new licenSing authorities were faced with the problems of setting standards over large areas of the country and they inherited a large number of older premises, including garages, some of which had been licensed for almost half a century. When some of these premises were compared with the recommended standards of the Model Code it appeard that there were areas where these premises were sub-standard. However, the Model Code takes care to stress that its requirements should not be applied rigidly to existing installations. Each installation must be looked at with regard to its own particular set of circumstances and

Number of appeals received

Number withdrawn

Number allowed

Number disallowed

Appeals outstanding

there are many petroleum storages up and down the country which do not fully comply with the letter of the Model Code but which have been operated quite safely over many years.

Since the beginning of 1975, we have received 109 notices of appeal and of these 31, or about one in three, have been later withdrawn, in some cases because the appe llan t decided not to proceed with his case but in others because further discussions between the licensing authority and the appellant had been able to produce a solution which was satisfactory to both. In addi tion to the appeals which have been withdrawn, there are another 14 notices of appeal which have been postponed at the present time and, if these also lead to withdrawal, we are approaching a situation where almost half the notices of appeal have been settled in some other way. It would seem a much more satisfactory approach if these problemE could be tackled by more extensive negotiations between the two parties and the question of an appeal considered only in the last resort. The approach of one licensing authority will be the subject of one of the papers at this conference.

Another trend which has become obvious this year is that there has been a considerable increase in the proportion of appeals which are allowed. This would again suggest that the standards for refusing a licence should be the subject of close scrutiny. There is no question that the Executive is required to arrange to hear appeals on behalf of the Secretary of State, whatever their number, and there will always be the. really sub-standard installations which should not be allowed to continue, but we feel that the process of negotiation and persuasion which is used by most authorities should always be the first approach. 30

9

5

5

11 34

16

8

13

8 1977 to midOctober

45

6

17

6

25

There is another problem concerning appeals which may confront us in the next few years. Some new authorities have set time limits, e.g. 3 or 5 years or longer, for the attainment of certain across-the-board standards. Typical conditions might relate to across the pavement filling or underground storage tanks inside buildings.

Again, Wf.. consider that· other avenues should be explored before these conditions become the subject of appeals. In this connection, the Executive has received a number of complaints from the occupiers of premises about the proposed standards and also the effect they could have on the sale of their business in the interim period. In the opinion of our legal department, the imposition of any such condition can constitute grounds for an immediate appeal and the first appeal of this type is in process of being arranged.

Nearly all the appeals relate to storage problems at old garages and in particular to the position of petrol dispensing units and underground storage tanks. The particular problems of licensing garages will be dealt with in another paper at the conference. However it might be useful to comment on the information on accidents causing personal injury or death in garages which have been reported to the Executive in 1975 and 1976. Under the 1928 Act, these accidents are required to be reported directly to the Executive by the occupier, and, while it is realised that the present system of reporting is unsatisfactory, the accidents do give an indication of the main sources of danger.

In 1975, six injuries were reported and five of these involved emp10yers/ employees who snlashed petrol on their clothes during filling and then