Farms, depots and standby fuel

Fuel storage on farms, yards and depots

Bulk tanks that have sat in the same corner of the yard for thirty years are the ones nobody has ever assessed.

Photo slot — farm or depot fuel store
send a photo and it drops straight in

Rural Pembrokeshire is full of this

Red diesel, heating oil, petrol for small plant, LPG for crop drying and, increasingly, standby generator fuel behind commercial premises.

None of it is exotic and all of it is in scope. What makes farm and depot work different is that installations are old, undocumented, and were put in before anyone thought about vent positions or what runs past them. The assessment is usually less about dramatic findings and more about writing down, for the first time, what is actually there and what would happen if it failed.

Farms are employers. The moment you have staff, contractors or a diversification business on the site, the workplace parts of the holding are covered like any other workplace.

What we look at

  • Tank type, age, condition and integrity
  • Vent positions and where vapour would go
  • Fill points, delivery arrangements and spill control
  • Bunding, drainage and watercourses
  • Dispensing, nozzles, hoses and bonding
  • Ignition sources: sockets, lighting, vehicles, hot work
  • LPG for crop drying and space heating
  • Generator day tanks and their rooms

The environmental consequence is often bigger than the fire one.

On the Milford Haven Waterway and across the Cleddau catchment, a failed bund reaching a watercourse is taken extremely seriously and costs far more than the tank. We flag that alongside the fire and explosion findings, because in practice it is the one that decides whether anything gets done.

Questions

Are farms really in scope?

If you employ anyone, yes. The farmhouse is a private dwelling and outside it, but the yard, the workshop, the fuel store and any diversification business are not.

What about a single red diesel tank?

Diesel has a relatively high flash point, so a cold tank is a lower vapour risk than petrol or solvent. That does not put it outside DSEAR, and the vent position, the fill point, the bunding and what is stored nearby all still matter.

We have a generator day tank. Is that covered?

Yes, and it is one of the more commonly missed items. Day tanks, their fill arrangements and the room they sit in all belong in the assessment.

Does grain drying count?

Grain drying brings both a dust risk and, where LPG or oil fires the drier, a fuel risk. Both belong in the same assessment.

Tell us what you store and we'll tell you where you stand

No charge for the conversation. Most quotes go out the same day.