The Seveso II Directive (96/82/EC), with subsequent
amendment, has been implemented in the EU to control the risks from
major accidents hazards introduced by the storage and handling of
hazardous chemicals. The Directive is implemented in the UK
by the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations 1999,
as amended in 2005.
The aim of the COMAH Regulations 1999 and Seveso II Directive
and subsequent amendments is to both prevent major accidents
involving dangerous substances in the workplace and to limit the
consequences of such accidents to people and the environment. There
are legally binding requirements on all sites affected by the
Regulation to ensure they have a Process Safety Management System
(SMS) in place to prevent major accidents, known as a Major
Accident Prevention Policy (MAPP). Sites also have a duty to
notify the Competent Authority (HSE or Environment Agency) of the
presence and inventory of dangerous substances on the site,
including making them aware of any changes
For sites with large quantities of dangerous substances (known
as upper tier sites) there is also a requirement to:
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Compile a safety report and issue this to a Competent
Authority. The safety report must demonstrate the design and
operation measures that the site is taking to prevent and control
major accident hazards, as well as mitigate the consequences
of major accidents. The latter involves emergency planning
arrangements. The site is also expected to identify and
assess the risks from major accident hazards. This often
involves quantification of the risks. Once published the
report needs to be reviewed every five years, and updated as a
consequence of this review. Updates are also required if
significant changes are made to the plant, process or safety
management system.
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Develop and test an onsite emergency plan
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Provide information to the public
Sites storing and handling hazardous chemicals need to verify if
they need to comply with COMAH/Seveso II by calculating if their
inventories are large enough to exceed thresholds stated in the
regulations.
Chilworth can provide the following help with COMAH/Seveso
II compliance.
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Safety reports
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Compilation of all or part of the report
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Identification of potential major accidents e.g. through Process
Hazard Analysis
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Risk assessment, through consequence modelling (use of PHAST,
EFFECTS etc), fault tree analysis, Layer of Protection Analysis
(LOPA) etc. This includes Occupied Building Risk Assessment
(OBRA)
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Report 5-yearly reviews and gap analysis
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Process Safety Management System (SMS)
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Emergency planning
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- Assistance with the development of on-site plans, including
identification of suitable mitigation measures based on consequence
modelling
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Other services
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Accident and near miss (hit) investigation
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Related assessments; for example, safety-related systems, HAZOP,
fire and explosion (DSEAR), chemical reaction hazard
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