Chemicals COMAH Regulations

An overriding principle in the storage of chemicals is that they should not be adversely affected by other adjacent substances or operations. An HSE Guidance Note gives suitable information on this topic. The COMAH Regulations also require consideration to be given to the quantities of hazardous materials that are stored at chemical sites located near to a COMAH site because of the possible domino effect of an incident at one company affecting adjacent companies. 

The concept of a safety case comes from the requirements of the European Union/European Community (EU/EC) Seveso Directive (82/501/EC) and, in particular, regulations that the United Kingdom and other member states used to implement that directive. United Kingdom regulations (Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards [CIMAH], 1984 replaced by Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances [COMAH] in 1999) require that major hazardous facilities produce a safety report or safety case.64 The requirement for a safety case is initiated by a list of chemicals and a class of flammables. Like the hazard analysis approach (Section 8.1.2), experts identify the reactive hazards of the process if analysis shows that the proposed process is safe, it may be excluded from additional regulatory requirements. 

CAPP CCPS CFR COMAH CSB Chemical Accident Prevention Program Center for Chemical Process Safety Code of Federal Regulations Control of Major Accident Hazards (U.K. HSE Regulation) U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board... 

In the UK, the Seveso Directives led to the creation of the Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards (CIMAH) regulations in 1984. These regulations required manufacturers of hazardous chemicals to create a Safety Report— in effect a Safety Case. They also had to show how the hazards were being effectively managed. CIMAH was replaced by Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) in 1999. 

In many applications it is necessary to produce a safety case outline by the operator prior to developing a safety case. (Ref MHF regulation). MHF stands for major hazard facilities (such as oil refinery, chemical plants). MHF regulation is applicable for working in these facilities in Australia, and for working safe in these areas there are some obligations to be met with. In UK similar regulation is in place in the name of control of major accident hazards (COMAH). 

Operators of Buncefield-type sites should review the classification of places within COMAH sites where explosive atmospheres may occur and their selection of equipment and protective systems (as required by the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002). This review should take into account the likelihood of undetected loss of containment and the possible extent of an explosive atmosphere following such an undetected loss of containment. Operators in the wider fuel and chemicals industries should also consider such a review, to take account of events at Buncefield. 

The above systems and process would need to be referenced to the MAPP required under COMAH for hydrazine. Effectively, although not all water treatment chemicals would be subject to regulation under COMAH, they will be treated as such in designing and implementing pollution prevention measures. This approach will also be in full accordance with that outlined in the Environmental Permitting (EP) guidance (Reference 14.6). 

COMAH An abbreviation for Control of Major Accidents and Hazards. These UK regulations under the Health and Safety at Work Act require the operator of a process plant or site that contains more than a defined amount of hazardous chemicals to provide a safety case report for the process and its operations, to demonstrate that it can be operated in a... 

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