SEVESO II

• Council Directive 96/82/EC of 9 December 1996 on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances
• published in OJ L 10 of 14 January 1997
• entered into force on 3 February 1997
• must be transposed into national law by the Member States within 24 months
• must be applied as from 3 February 1999 (date of repeal of Directive 82/501/EEC-SEVESO I)

What's new in SEVESO II

• Scope is broadened and simplified
  • no list of industrial installations any more
  • short list of named substances (Annex I, Part 1)
  • more generic criteria (Annex I, Part 2)
• Safety Management Systems (SMS - Annex III)
  • new managerial/organisational methods
• Testing of Internal/External Emergency Plans
• Land-use planning (Art. 12)
  • suitable distances
  • additional technical measures
• Inspection Systems (Art. 18) consisting of
  • systematic appraisal or one on-site inspection every year
  • inspection report
  • follow-up with the Operator

Aim (Art. 1)

• prevention of major accidents involving dangerous substances
• limitation of the consequences of accidents on man and the environment
• high level of protection - for man and the environment throughout the Community

Scope (Art. 2 and Annex I)

• relates to 'presence of dangerous substances'
  • actual
  • anticipated
  • generated during loss of control of an industrial chemical process
• Annex I contains
  • a list of Named Substances (Part 1)
  • a list of Generic Categories of Substances and Preparations (Part 2)
• Both, Part 1 and Part 2 of Annex I, contain
  • lower threshold quantities (lower tier): application of Art. 6 and 7
  • upper threshold quantities (upper tier): application of Art. 6 and 9

IMPORTANT: Art. 7 and 9 are mutually exclusive

Definitions (Art. 3)

• establishment
• installation
• operator
• dangerous substance
• major accident
• hazard
• risk
• storage

Exclusions (Art. 4)

• military establishments
• hazards created by ionizing radiation
• transport and intermediate temporary storage outside the establishment
• transport in pipelines outside establishments
• activities of the extractive industries (mines, quarries, boreholes)
• waste land-fill sites

General obligations of the Operator (Art. 5)

• Operator must take all necessary measures
  • to prevent major accidents
  • to limit the consequences of an accident on man and the environment
• Operator must prove to the Competent Authority (CA) that he has taken all necessary measures

Notification (Art. 6)

• applies to lower and upper tier establishments
• applies to new and existing establishments
• requires the operator to give to the Competent Authority (CA) information on the:
  • establishment
  • dangerous substances (quantities, physical form)
  • activity of the installation or storage
  • immediate environment

Major-Accident Prevention Policy (Art.7 and Annex III)

• Art. 7 applies only to lower tier establishments
• Operator must establish a written policy
  • setting out overall aims and principles with respect to the prevention and control of major accidents
  • ensuring a high level of protection for man and the environment
• Operator must make MAPP available to the CA’s for the purposes of inspection and control

Domino Effects (Art. 8)

Competent Authority must

• identify establishments or groups of establishments where the danger of an accident is increased because of the
  • location
  • proximity
  • dangerous substances present
• ensure
  • exchange of information and
  • co-operation between establishments

Safety Report (Art. 9 and Annexes II and III)

• applies only to upper tier establishments
• Operator must establish
  • Major-Accident Prevention Policy (MAPP)
  • Safety Management System (SMS)
  • Internal Emergency Plan
• Safety report must include information on the:
  • MAPP and SMS
  • environment of the establishment
  • description of the installation
  • risk analysis and prevention methods
  • control and limitation of the consequences of an accident

Safety Report (Time Limits)

Safety Report must be provided

• for new establishments
  within a 'reasonable' period of time prior to the start of construction or operation
• for existing establishments
  • not covered by SEVESO I
    within 3 years from 3 February 1999
  • covered by SEVESO I
    within 2 years from 3 February 1999

Safety Report (Tasks of the Competent Authority)

Competent Authority

• examines the Safety Report
• requests further information from the operator (if necessary)
• decides to
  • allow or
  • prohibit (Art. 17)
  the bringing into use or continued use of the establishment
• communicates conclusions to the operator

Safety Report (Review)

Safety Report must be reviewed and updated every five years or

• at the request of the Competent Authority
• at the initiative of the operator (voluntary), where justified by
  • new facts
  • new technical knowledge about safety
  • new knowledge about hazard assessment
• in case of modification of a site (Art. 10)

Derogations (Art. 9 para 6)

Operator must

• apply and
• demonstrate that
  particular substances are 'in a state incapable of creating a major-accident hazard'

Competent Authority

• applies harmonised criteria and
• decides
  • to grant a dispensation indicating to which matters the information required in the Safety Report can be limited or
  • not to grant a dispensation

Harmonised Criteria Art. 9, paragraph 6)

• are being elaborated in Technical Working Group 6 (TWG 6)
  • no 'case-law' but generic criteria
  • criteria - consequences
• have to be established before 3 February 1999
  • repeal of Directive 82/501/EEC (SEVESO I)
  • no criteria - no derogations
• must be adopted by the CCA acting as a Regulatory Committee (III a) under SEVESO I

Modification of a site (Art. 10)

is defined as modification of

• establishment
• installation
• storage facility
• (chemical) process
• nature of dangerous substance(s)
• quantity of dangerous substance(s)

What does the operator have to do in the case of a modification of a site?

Lower tier establishment

Operator

• reviews and
• revises (if necessary)
  the

• MAPP

Upper tier establishment

Operator

• reviews and
• revises (if necessary)
  the

• MAPP
• SMS
• Safety Report

Emergency plans: Objectives

• containing, controlling incidents
• communication of information to the public
• restoring and cleaning-up the environment after a major accident
• limit damage to man, the environment and property
• implementing the necessary measures

Emergency Plans (Art. 11) - I

Operator - Internal Emergency Plan

• Inside the establishment
• Consultation of personnel

Competent Autority - External Emergency Plan

• Outside the establishment
• Consultation of the public

review & test min. every 3 years

Emergency Plans (Art. 11) - II

Operator

• consults the personnel
• draws up an internal emergency plan (incl. data and information of Annex IV 1.)
• provides to the CA
  • internal emergency plan
  • other necessary information

Competent Authority

• forwards internal emergency plan and other information to

• consults the public
• draws up external emergency plan (incl. data and information of Annex IV 2.)

Emergency Plans (Art. 11) - III

Internal emergency plans
have to be

• reviewed
• tested
• revised and updated (if necessary)

External emergency plans
have to be

• reviewed
• tested
• revised and updated (if necessary)

Land-use planning (Art. 12)

shall take account of the aims of the Directive, i.e.

• preventing major accidents
• limiting their consequences

• siting of new establishments
• modifications of existing sites (Art. 10)
• new developments (transport links, locations frequented by the public, residential areas)

APPROPRIATE DISTANCES OR ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL MEASURES

Consultation of the public (Art. 13)

The public must be consulted in the cases of

• planning for new upper tier establishments
• modifications of existing establishments
• developments around existing establishments

• on external emergency plans (Art. 11)

Information on Safety Measures (Art.13)

Operators and Local Authorities are obliged to provide

• active information and
• passive (permanent availability of) information to the public.

The information shall be

• reviewed (at least every three years) and
• repeated (at least every five years),

Member States have to supply information to other potentially affected Member States for upper tier establishments (Art. 9) where

• there is a possibility of transboundary effects of a major accident

in order to enable them to take account of in

• the establishment of emergency plans (Art. 11)
• their land-use planning (Art. 12)
• the information to the public (Art. 13)

Information following a major accident (Art. 14)

Operator must

• inform CA
• provide information on
  • circumstances
  • substances involved
  • data for assessment
  • measures taken
• inform about steps
  • to alleviate effects
  • to prevent recurrence
• update information

Competent Authority must

• itself take all necessary measures
• collect all necessary information for a full analysis of the accident
• ensure that the Operator takes all necessary remedial measures
• recommend future preventive measures

Information to be supplied to the Commission (Art. 15 and Annex VI)

Annex VI contains

• criteria for the mandatory notification of accidents based on
  • substances involved
  • injury to persons or damage to real estate
  • immediate damage to the environment
  • damage to property
  • cross-border damage
• a recommendation for voluntary notification of
  • other accidents not meeting the above criteria
  • near misses

Notification must include

• name and address of responsible authority of the Member State
• date, time and place of the accident
• name of the operator and address of the establishment
• description of the circumstances of the accident (substances involved, immediate effects on man and the environment)
• emergency measures and precautions taken

Committee of Competent Authorities (CCA - Art. 16)

has two main tasks:

• to be a forum for the exchange information between Member States and the Commission - Art. 19, para 1 (administrative co-operation)
• to act as a Regulatory Committee (Art. 22) in order to
  • establish harmonised criteria for derogations under Art. 9, paragraph 6 (Safety Reports)
  • to adapt Annexes II to VI to technical progress

Prohibition of Use (Art. 17)

Member States' authorities can prohibit

• the bringing into use or
• the operation of
  • establishments
  • installations
  • storage facilities or
  • parts thereof

for two reasons:

• safety measures taken by the operator are seriously deficient
• no submission of Notification (Art. 6), Safety Report (Art. 9) or other information by the Operator

Inspection (Art. 18)

Inspection Systems are organised by the CA and shall ensure that

• the Operator has taken the appropriate measures
  • to prevent a major accident
  • to limit the consequences of an accident
• the Safety Report is correct and complete
• the public have been informed

An Inspection System shall comprise

• a programme of inspections by the CA consisting either
  • of a systematic appraisal of each establishment or
  • of at least one on-site inspection of each establishment per year
• an inspection report by the CA
• a follow-up with the Operator within a reasonable period

Major-Accident Reporting System (MARS - Art. 19)

• is an open register and information system
• administered by the Major-Accident Hazards Bureau (MAHB) established within the JRC at Ispra, Italy
• containing
  • accident information supplied by Member States (Art. 15)
  • analyses of causes of accidents
  • lessons learned
  • information about preventive measures

Reporting Obligations (Art. 19)

Framework Directive 91/962/EEC obliges

• the Committee established under the Directive to adopt a 'questionnaire' to standardise the reporting (at the latest 6 months prior to the beginning of the reporting period)
• the Member States to provide the Commission with a three-yearly report based on the 'questionnaire' (at the latest 9 months after the end of the reporting period)
• the Commission to establish and publish in the OJ a summary of this information (at the latest 18 months after the end of the reporting period)

Confidentiality (Art. 20)

• of deliberations of CA’s and the Commission
• international relations and national defence
• public security
• investigation and legal proceedings
• commercial and industrial secrets (IP)
• personal data and/or files
• data supplied by third party if asked to be kept confidential by that third party

Major-Accident Hazards Bureau (MAHB)

• MoU between the Commission and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in 1994
• established within ISIS at JRC in Ispra, Italy
• has three main tasks:
  • Major-Accident Reporting System (MARS)
  • Community Documentation Centre on Industrial Risks (CDCIR)
  • scientific and administrative support for Technical Working Groups (TWG’s)

Technical Working Groups - I

• are composed of experts nominated by the Competent Authorities of the Member States and invited experts from interested parties
• develop guidance necessary for a coherent implementation of SEVESO I and II
• Major-Accident Hazards Bureau (MAHB) provides scientific and administrative support to TWG’s
• work under the authority of and report to the Committee of Competent Authorities (CCA)

Technical Working Groups - II

• Inspection Systems (TWG 2)
• Safety Reports (TWG 3)
• Safety Management Systems (TWG 4)
• Land-use Planning (TWG 5)
• Derogations under Article 9 paragraph 6 (TWG 6)
• Substances dangerous for the environment (TWG 7)