New Rules For The Control Of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances

New regulations on the Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances has come into force.

From today, Monday 1 June, the regulations apply to locations where significant quantities of dangerous substances are stored. The 'Seveso' Directive applies to around 10,000 industrial establishments across Europe where dangerous substances are used or stored in large quantities, mainly in the chemicals, petrochemicals, storage, and metal refining sectors. In Ireland, there are approximately 100 Seveso establishments.

There is a tiered approach to the level of controls; sites are divided into upper and lower-tier establishments. The larger the quantities of dangerous substances present within an establishment, the stricter the rules.

The new regulations strengthen a number of areas set out in the existing Seveso II Regulations, such as public access to information and standards of inspections, while changes have been made particularly on how dangerous substances are classified and the information that has to be made available to the public.

For the first time, lower-tier operators will have to provide public information about their site and its hazards, while both upper-tier and lower-tier operators will be required to provide information which will be electronically available to the public and kept up-to-date by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), which is the Central Competent Authority for the Regulations.

The main changes coming into effect under the new Regulations include:

• Updating and aligning the list of substances covered by the Directive to the EU legislation on the classification of dangerous substances

• Strengthening citizens' rights on access to information, justice and on participation in decision-making

• Improving the way information is collected, managed, made available and shared

• Introducing stricter standards for inspections ensuring a more effective implementation and enforcement

• Clarifying and updating of provisions, including streamlining and simplification to reduce administrative burden.

(JP)