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URLs to HSE website updated 28 January 2020
The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 came into force in Scotland, Wales and England on 1 June 2015. These updated Regulations bring into force many of the parts of the Seveso III Directive.
The Directive has also resulted in updates to the hazardous substances consent legislation.
Perhaps the most significant driver for these updates to the regulations dealing with major accident hazards is the need to replace the references to the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations (CHIP) and align the new Regulations with the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulations (CLP).
At the time of writing, the COMAH Competent Authority information and guidance (hosted on the HSE website) is in the process of being revised.
Of note the following updates have been made, and are likely to be valuable links for all COMAH operators:
At the time of my writing this blog (8am, 2 June 2015), the CA website had not been fully updated. However, key documents that are pending include the new version of the safety report assessment manual (SRAM).
Another significant update on the CA website – Hazardous Substances Consent applications can now be made on line (hosted by HSE): http://hazsubcon.azurewebsites.net/
More summaries of changes to follow…..
General guidance on COMAH is provided on-line by the COMAH Competent Authority at https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/index.htm.
Blog dated 2 June 2015
Moving now to specific topics, I'll start with the COMAH general duty, and add further topics in future blogs.
2. General Duty of the Operator
The ‘general duty’ of Regulation 4 of COMAH 1999 becomes Regulation 5(1) of COMAH 2015 with a slight modification.
Thus, COMAH ’99 Regulation 4 which stated that,
“Every operator shall take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and limit their consequences to persons and the environment”
Is superseded by COMAH ’15 Regulation 5(1) which now requires that,
“Every operator must take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and to limit their consequences for human health and the environment”.
COMAH 2015 introduces additional parts to Regulation 5 of COMAH 2015. These parts make specific explicit requirements in connection with the ‘general duty’:
More summaries of the changes to COMAH to follow.....
General guidance on COMAH is provided on-line by the COMAH Competent Authority at https://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/index.htm.
Blog dated 22 May 2015