Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

6general information relating to the nature of the major accident hazards, including their potential effects on the population and the environment;

7adequate information on how the population concerned will be warned and kept informed in the event of a major accident;

8adequate information on the actions the population concerned should take, and on the behaviour they should adopt, in the event of a major accident;

9confirmation that the operator is required to make adequate arrangements on site, in particular liaison with the emergency services, to deal with major accidents and to minimise their effects;

10a reference to the off-site emergency plan for the establishment. This should include advice to co-operate with any instructions or requests from the emergency services at the time of an accident;

11details of where further relevant information can be obtained, unless making that information available would be contrary to the interests of national security or personal confidentiality or would prejudice to an unreasonable degree the commercial interests of any person.

SCHEDULE 7 — Criteria for notification of a major accident to the European Commission and information to be notified

Part I — Criteria

(This Part sets out the provisions of Annex VI to the Directive.)

The criteria referred to in regulation 21(1) are as follows—

1Any accident covered in sub-paragraph (a) or having at least one of the consequences described in sub-paragraphs (b), (c), (d) and (e) must be notified to the Commission—asubstances involved:any fire or explosion or accidental discharge of a dangerous substance involving a quantity of at least 5 per cent of the qualifying quantity laid down in column 3 of Parts II or III of Schedule 1;binjury to persons and damage to property: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 kept in hospital for at least 24 hours,one person outside the establishment kept in hospital for at least 24 hours,dwellings outside the establishment damaged and unusable as a result of the accident,the evacuation or confinement of persons for more than 2 hours (person × hours): the value is at least 500,the interruption of drinking water, electricity, gas or telephone services for more than 2 hours (person × hours): the value is at least 1000;cimmediate damage to the environment:ipermanent or long-term damage to terrestrial habitats:0·5 ha or more of a habitat of environmental or conservation importance protected by legislation,10 ha or more of more widespread habitat, including agricultural land;iisignificant or long-term damage to freshwater and marine habitats:10 km or more of river or canal,1 ha or more of a lake or pond,2 ha or more of delta,2 ha or more of a coastline or open sea;iiisignificant damage to an acquifer or underground water:1 ha or more;damage to property:damage to property in the establishment of at least ECU 2 million,damage to property outside the establishment of at least ECU 0·5 million;cross-border damage:any accident directly involving a dangerous substance giving rise to effects outside the territory of the Member State concerned.

2Accidents 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.

Part II — Information

The information referred to in regulation 21(2) is as follows—

1the Member State and the name and address of the competent authority;

2the date, time and place of the major accident, including the full name of the operator and the address of the establishment involved;

3a brief description of the circumstances of the accident, including the dangerous substances involved, and the immediate effects on persons and the environment;

4a brief description of the emergency measures taken and of the immediate precautions necessary to prevent a recurrence.

SCHEDULE 8 — Provision of information by the competent authority

1

The competent authority shall maintain a register containing the information comprised in—

• (a) notifications to the competent authority under regulation 6;

• (b) safety reports;

• (c) notifications under regulation 16(2);

• (d) communications under regulation 17(1)(a);

and such a register is in this Schedule referred to as “the register”.

2

The competent authority may remove from the register information relating to an establishment—

• (a) after the expiration of 5 years from the time the establishment ceases to be subject to these Regulations; or

• (b) if it is of the opinion that for the past 5 years the information has not related to current major accident hazards at the establishment.

3

Where information of any description is excluded from the register by virtue of paragraphs 10 to 18, a statement shall be entered in the register indicating the existence of information of that description.

4

It shall be the duty of the competent authority—

• (a) to secure that the register is available, at all reasonable times, for inspection by the public free of charge; and

• (b) to afford to members of the public facilities for obtaining copies of entries, on payment of reasonable charges.

5

The register may be kept in any form.

6

Information shall not be included in the register if and so long as, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, the inclusion in the register of that information, or information of that description, would be contrary to the interests of national security.

7

The Secretary of State may, for the purpose of securing the exclusion from the register of information to which paragraph 6 applies, give to the competent authority directions—

• (a) specifying information, or descriptions of information, to be excluded from the register; or

• (b) specifying descriptions of information to be referred to the Secretary of State for his determination;

and information referred to the Secretary of State in pursuance of sub-paragraph (b) shall not be included in the register until the Secretary of State determines that it should be so included.

8

The competent authority shall notify the Secretary of State of any information it excludes from the register in pursuance of directions under paragraph 7.

9

A person may, as respects any information which appears to him to be information to which paragraph 6 may apply, give a notice to the Secretary of State specifying the information and indicating its apparent nature; and, if he does so—

• (a) he shall notify the competent authority that he has done so; and

• (b) information so notified to the Secretary of State shall not be included in any such register until the Secretary of State has determined that it should be so included.

10

Information relating to the affairs of any individual or business shall not be included in the register without the consent of that individual or the person for the time being carrying on that business, if and so long as the information—

• (a) is, in relation to him, commercially or personally confidential; and

• (b) is not required to be included in the register in pursuance of directions under paragraph 15;

but information is not commercially or personally confidential for the purposes of this paragraph unless it is determined under this Schedule to be so by the competent authority or, on appeal, by the Department.

11

Where information is provided to the competent authority pursuant to a requirement imposed by or under these Regulations then, if the person providing it applies to the competent authority to have the information excluded from the register on the ground that it is commercially or personally confidential (as regards himself or another person), the competent authority shall determine whether the information is or is not commercially or personally confidential.

12

A determination under paragraph 11 must be made within the period of 28 days beginning with the date of the application and if the competent authority fails to make a determination within that period it shall be treated as having determined that the information is commercially or personally confidential.

13

Where, under paragraph 11, the competent authority determines that information is not commercially or personally confidential—

• (a) the information shall not be entered in the register until the end of the period of 21 days beginning with the date on which the determination is notified to the person concerned;

• (b) that person may appeal to the Department against the decision;

and, where an appeal is brought in respect of any information, the information shall not be entered in the register until the end of the period of 7 days following the day on which the appeal is finally determined or withdrawn.

14

Article 22 (8) and (9) of the Industrial Pollution Control (Northern Ireland) Order 1997³⁰ and Regulations made under Article 22(9) of that Order shall have effect in relation to an appeal under paragraph 13 as they have effect in relation to an appeal under Article 22 of that Order, but as if any reference to an enforcing authority were a reference to the competent authority and as if any reference to the Department of the Environment (with the exception of the first reference in the said Article 22(9)) were a reference to the Department.

15

The Department may give to the competent authority directions as to specified information, or descriptions of information, which the public interest requires to be included in the register.

16

Information excluded from the register shall be treated as ceasing to be commercially confidential for the purposes of this Schedule at the expiry of the period of 5 years beginning with the date of the determination by virtue of which it was excluded; but the person who furnished it may apply to the competent authority for the information to remain excluded from the register on the ground that it is still commercially confidential and the competent authority shall determine whether or not that is the case.

17

Paragraphs 13 and 14 shall apply in relation to a determination under paragraph 16 as they apply in relation to a determination under paragraph 11.

18

Information is, for the purposes of any determination under this Schedule, commercially confidential, in relation to any individual or person, if its being contained in the register would prejudice to an unreasonable degree the commercial interests of that individual or person.

19

The Environment and Safety Information (Northern Ireland) Order 1993³¹ shall apply to a notice served under—

• (a) regulation 18(3) as it applies to a notice served under Article 24 of the 1978 Order; or

• (b) Article 23 of the 1978 Order in respect of a contravention of these Regulations,

as if the refernce in the second column of Schedule 1 to the 1993 Order to the enforcing authority within the meaning of the 1978 Order by which the inspector who served the notice was appointed were a reference to the competent authority.

20

Any information other than that referred to in paragraph 1 and which has been received by the competent authority pursuant to a requirement imposed by or under these Regulations shall, to the extent that it is not information relating to the environment for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993³², be treated as being so for those purposes.

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment on 15th March 2000.

Adrianne L. Brown — A Senior Officer of the — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

1 These Regulations impose requirements with respect to the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances. (The expressions “major accident” and “dangerous substance” are defined in regulation 2(1)). The Regulations implement Council Directive 96/82/EC on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances, except Article 12 (which relates to land use planning).

2 The Regulations apply to establishments (as defined in regulation 2(1)) where dangerous substances are present in quantities equal to or exceeding those specified in column 2 of Parts II or III of Schedule 1, except that regulations 7 to 14 apply to establishments where such substances are present in quantities equal to or exceeding those specified in column 3 of those Parts (regulation 3(1)). The Regulations do not apply in the cases specified in regulation 3(2) nor to certain specified establishments, substances or activities or waste land-fill sites (regulation 3(3)).

3 The competent authority for the purposes of the Regulations is the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (the Executive) and the Department of the Environment acting jointly.

4 The Regulations— a impose a duty on the operator of an establishment to take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and limit their consequences for persons and the environment (regulation 4); b impose a duty on the operator to prepare a major accident prevention policy document containing specified information and to revise it in specified circumstances (regulation 5 and Schedule 2); c require the operator to notify the competent authority of specified matters at specified times (regulation 6 and Schedule 3); d require the operator to send at specified times a safety report to the competent authority containing specified information, to revise that report in specified circumstances, and not to start the construction or operation of the establishment until he has received from the competent authority the conclusions of its examination of the report (regulation 7 and Schedule 4); e require the operator to review and revise the safety report in specified circumstances (regulation 8); f require the operator to prepare an on-site emergency plan for specified purposes and containing specified information (regulation 9 and Schedule 5); g require, subject to any exemption that may be granted by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, the Executive to arrange for the preparation of an off-site emergency plan for specified purposes and containing specified information and require the operator to supply to the Executive the information necessary to enable the plan to be prepared (regulation 10 and Schedule 5); h require on-site and off-site emergency plans to be reviewed, tested and implemented (regulations 11 and 12), and empower the Executive to charge the operator a fee for arranging for the preparation, and for the review and testing, of the off-site emergency plan (regulation 13); i require the operator to provide, after consulting the Executive, specified information to specified persons at specified times and to make that information publicly available (regulation 14 and Schedule 6); j require the operator to demonstrate to the competent authority that he has taken all measures necessary to comply with the Regulations (regulation 15(1)); k require the operator to provide, when requested to do so by the competent authority, information to the authority for specified purposes (regulation 15(2)); l require the operator to notify major accidents to the competent authority (regulation 15(3) and (4)); m require the operator to provide information to, and to co-operate with, other establishments in a group designated by the competent authority (regulation 16); n impose functions on the competent authority with respect to— i its consideration of the safety report sent by the operator (regulation 17); ii prohibiting the operation of an establishment (regulation 18); iii inspections and investigations (regulation 19); iv enforcement (regulation 20); and v the provision of information (regulation 21 and Schedules 7 and 8); o provide for fees to be payable by the operator to the Executive in relation to the performance of specified functions of the Executive or competent authority (regulation 22); p amend the Petroleum Consolidation Act (Northern Ireland) 1929, the Petroleum-Spirit (Motor Vehicles, &c.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1930 and the Petroleum-Spirit (Plastic Containers) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1983 so as to disapply that Act and those Regulations to establishments subject to these Regulations and to sites subject to the Notification of Installations Handling Hazardous Substances Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1984 (regulation 23); q revoke the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1985, and certain other statutory provisions which amended them (regulation 24); r contain a transitional provision (regulation 25).

5 The numbers assigned to substances by the Chemicals Abstract Service and referred to in paragraph 3(c)(i) of Part II of Schedule 4 are given in the CAS Registry Handbook, ISSN 0093-058X, which may be inspected at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1V 0BN. Details of the CAS Registry Handbook may also be obtained at the CAS customer website at: http://www.cas.org/support/custserv.html. Information about the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) nomenclature, also referred to in paragraph 3(c)(i) of Part II of Schedule 4, may be obtained at the IUPAC website at: http://www.iupac.org/publications/books/seriestitles/index.html.

6 In Great Britain the corresponding Regulations are the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/743) and the Health and Safety Executive has prepared a regulatory impact assessment in relation to those Regulations. A copy of that assessment, together with the Northern Ireland Supplement prepared by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, is held at the offices of the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland, 83 Ladas Drive, Belfast BT6 9FR, from where a copy can be obtained on request.

7 A person who contravenes the Regulations is guilty of an offence under Article 31 of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (currently £5,000) or, on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

Footnotes

Editorial notes