Imminent changes to the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) regime
The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH 1999) are aimed at preventing major accidents and apply to industrial sites storing dangerous substances above certain thresholds. From 30 June 2005 an amendment to COMAH 1999 will change the threshold and classifications of dangerous substances to which COMAH applies. As a result, many businesses will fall within the Regulations for the first time. The new amendment also means that around 100 businesses will move from the lower to the upper tier of control under COMAH, bringing additional duties such as the obligation to prepare an emergency plan. The COMAH (Amendment) Regulations 2005 implement the health, safety and environmental aspects of EU Directive 2003/105/EC amending the Directive on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances (96/82/EC) (the Seveso II Directive).
As well as amendments to the threshold and classifications of dangerous substances, the new COHMA regime will bring in a number of other requirements. Among these is a duty to notify the quantities of petroleum products in disaggregated form. This is intended to enable the competent authority to focus its regulatory activity according to the hazards associated with different types of products. In addition, there will be a new duty on operators to notify the competent authority both when a safety report for an upper tier site is revised and when it is reviewed but not revised.
Further changes to COMAH will be introduced by the Planning (Control of Major Accident Hazards) Regulations 2005. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is consulting until 6 June 2005 on a draft of these Regulations, which will bring into effect in England from 1 July 2005 changes to the land use and planning requirements of Directive 2003/105/EC. The draft Regulations are intended to ensure that land use planning is taken into account in preventing major accidents and limiting the consequences of such accidents. They are concerned with whether the storage of dangerous substances at a site is an appropriate use of that land, taking into account the neighbourhood in which the site is located.
In order to achieve this, the new COMAH planning regulations will introduce controls on the siting of new establishments and modifications to existing establishments. It will also mean that new developments in the vicinity of existing establishments will come under greater scrutiny in order to asses whether there is an increased risk of a major accident or whether the consequences of such an accident would be more serious.
In addition to moving around 100 companies from the lower to the upper tier of COMAH, the ODPM estimates that a further 100 companies will soon fall within the COMAH regime. Under planning requirements, businesses new to COMAH will need to apply to the local planning authority for a hazardous substances consent. At either £250 or £400, depending the quantity of substances held, the cost of obtaining a consent is relatively small. However, granting it triggers the setting up of a consultation zone around the site. In addition to limiting any future development within the vicinity of that site, this could also result in difficulties when trying to expand activities at a COMAH site.
