S.I. No. 74/2006 - European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2006

• (f) Arrangements for providing the public with specific information relating to the accident and the behaviour which it should adopt.

• (g) Arrangements for the provision of information to the emergency services of other Member States in the event of a major accident with possible transboundary consequences.

Schedule 6 PUBLIC COMMUNICATION

Annex V to Council Directive 96/82/EC

ITEMS OF INFORMATION TO BE COMMUNICATED TO THE PUBLIC AS PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE 13(1)

Schedule 7 MAJOR ACCIDENTS AND NEAR MISSES

Annex VI to Council Directive 96/82/EC

CRITERIA FOR THE NOTIFICATION OF AN ACCIDENT TO THE COMMISSION AS PROVIDED FOR IN ARTICLE 15(1)

I Any accident covered by paragraph 1 or having at least one of the consequences described in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5 must be notified to the Commission.

Any fire or explosion or accidental discharge of a dangerous substance involving, a quantity of at least 5% of the qualifying quantity laid down in column 3 of Annex 1.

An accident directly involving a dangerous substance and giving rise to one of the following events:

— a death,

— six persons injured within the establishment and hospitalised for at least 24 hours,

— one person outside the establishment hospitalised for at least 24 hours,

— dwelling(s) outside the establishment damaged and unusable as a result of the accident,

— the evacuation or confinement of persons for more than 2 hours (persons x hours): the value is at least 500,

— the interruption of drinking water, electricity, gas or telephone services for more than 2 hours (persons x hours): the value is at least 1000.

— permanent or long-term damage to terrestrial habitats:

— 0.5 ha or more of a habitat of environmental or conservation importance protected by legislation,

— 10 or more hectares of more widespread habitat, including agricultural land,

— significant or long-term damage to freshwater and marine habitats(✻)

(✻) In assessing damage, reference could be made where appropriate to Directives 75/440/EEC, 76/464/EEC and Directives adopted for its application in relation to certain substances, namely, Directives 76/160/EEC, 78/659/EEC, 79/923/EEC, or to the Lethal Concentration (LC) for 50% of the species representative of the environment affected as defined by Directive 92/32/EEC for the criterion ‘dangerous for the environment’

— 10 km or more of river or canal,

— one ha or more of a lake or pond,

— 2 ha or more of delta,

— 2 ha or more of a coastline or open sea,

— significant damage to an aquifer or underground water(✻✻)

(✻✻) In assessing damage, reference could be made where appropriate to Directives 75/440/EEC, 76/464/EEC and Directives adopted for its application in relation to certain substances, namely, Directives 76/160/EEC, 78/659/EEC, 79/923/EEC, or to the Lethal Concentration (LC) for 50% of the species representative of the environment affected as defined by Directive 92/32/EEC for the criterion ‘dangerous for the environment’

— one ha or more.

— damage to property in the establishment at least ECU 2 million,

— damage to property outside the establishment; at least ECU O,5 million.

Any accident directly involving a dangerous substance giving rise to effects outside the territory of the Member State concerned.

II. Accidents or ‘near misses’ which Member States regard as being of particular technical interest for preventing major accidents and limiting their consequences and which do not meet the quantitative criteria above should be notified to the Commission.

Schedule 8 NOTIFIABLE INCIDENTS

• (a) the bursting, explosion or collapse of a pipe-line or any part thereof;

• (b) the unintentional ignition of anything in a pipe-line, or of anything which immediately before it was ignited was in a pipeline.

Schedule 9 Annex to Commission Decision 98/433/EC of 26 June 1998

HARMONISED CRITERIA FOR DISPENSATIONS ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 9 OF COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 96/82/EC ON THE CONTROL OF MAJOR ACCIDENT HAZARDS INVOLVING DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES

A dispensation according to Article 9(6) may be granted if at least one of the following generic criteria is fulfilled:

Physical form of substance

Substances in solid form, such that, under both normal conditions and any abnormal conditions which can reasonably be foreseen, a release, of matter or of energy, which could create a major accident hazard, is not possible.

Containment and quantities

Substances packaged or contained in such a fashion and in such quantities that the maximum release possible under any circumstances cannot create a major accident hazard.

Location and quantities

Substances present in such quantities and at such distances from other dangerous substances (at the establishment or elsewhere) that they can neither create a major accident hazard by themselves nor initiate a major accident involving other dangerous substances.

Classification

Substances which are defined as dangerous substances by virtue of their generic classification in Annex I, Part 2 to Directive 96/82/EC, but which cannot create a major accident hazard, and for which therefore the generic classification is inappropriate for this purpose.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

The purpose of these Regulations is to transpose Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances as amended by Directive 2003/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.

The Regulations revoke and replace -

• (i) the European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2000 ( S.I. No. 476 of 2000 ), and

• (ii) the European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances)(Amendment) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 402 of 2003 ).

The Regulations apply to establishments where dangerous substances are present in amounts equal to or exceeding the application thresholds.

Operators of establishments are required to take all necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of major accidents and to limit the consequences of accidents for people and the environment.

The Regulations impose duties in respect of safety management systems, preparation of safety reports and emergency preparedness.

The Regulations also deal with provision of advice on major hazards in the context of land-use planning decisions.

The Regulations set out the arrangements for the appointment of competent authorities, enforcement and the provision of information.

The Regulations provide for the levying of charges by competent authorities for duties performed pursuant to these Regulations.

The principal changes incorporated in the new Regulations include the following -

Schedule 1 (which replicates the amended Annex 1 of Directive 96/82/EC) determines the application of the Regulations. The definition of dangerous substance has been changed to follow more exactly the definition in Directive 96/82/EC.

The definition of establishment has been extended to cover the situation where two or more areas under the control of the same person and separated only by a road, railway or inland waterway shall be treated as one whole area; this approach will give a more realistic presentation of the major accident profile of an area.

The application of the Regulations has been extended as per Directive 2003/105/EC to cover -

• chemical and thermal processing operations and storage related to operations associated with the exploitation of minerals,

• operational tailings disposal facilities, including tailing ponds or dams containing dangerous substances as defined in Schedule 1, in particular when used in connection with the chemical and thermal processing of minerals.

The non-application of the Regulations to offshore exploration has been made more explicit.

The timeframe (3 months) for the preparation of the major accident prevention policy document (MAPP) by new establishments has been incorporated as per the Directive. Operators of existing establishments must, where necessary, amend their MAPP document within 3 months of the commencement of the Regulations.

The scope of the safety management system to be addressed under the MAPP has been extended as per the Directive to include the role of subcontracted personnel and their training, including preparation for emergencies.

Operators of new establishments must send Notifications to the Central Competent Authority (Health and Safety Authority) within 3 months of the commencement of the Regulations, as per the Directive.

Operators of existing establishments must, where necessary, amend their Notifications within one month of the commencement of the Regulations.

The content of Safety Reports with regard to the assessment of the extent and severity of the consequences of identified major accidents has been further detailed as per the Directive to include maps, images or, as appropriate, equivalent descriptions, showing areas which are liable to be affected by such accidents.

Safety Reports will contain the names of the relevant organisations involved in the drawing up of the report, as required by the Directive.

Operators of establishments which subsequently fall within the scope of the Directive will have one year to submit a Safety Report (as per the Directive) and, where necessary, operators of existing establishments will have 6 months, or longer as may be agreed with the HSA, to amend their reports,

Operators of establishments which subsequently fall within the scope of the Directive will have 6 months to prepare an internal emergency plan.

Operators of existing establishments shall, where necessary, amend their internal emergency plans within one month of the new regulations coming into force.

The Central Competent Authority may consult as appropriate with the Environmental Protection Agency on the information contained in a safety report that is relevant to the possible risks of environmental pollution from a major accident.

Under the Regulations, the Central Competent Authority does not have to rely solely on information from notifications/Safety Reports to determine the presence of a group of establishments where there is likely to be a “domino effect”

The scale of charges applicable under Regulation 46 is that specified from time to time by the relevant Minister.

Footnotes