COMAH site responsibilities

If you operate a site covered by the Control of Major Accident Hazard (COMAH) Regulations, you must:

• make a notification to the Competent Authority.  (Northern Ireland: HSENI: COMAH notifications or Scotland: HSE: COMAH notifications)
• take all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and limit the consequences for people and the environment of any that do happen (see Regulation 5 to the COMAH Regulations or Section 5 in the Northern Ireland COMAH Regulations);
• prepare a major accident prevention policy (MAPP) (In Scotland: Guidance on how to prepare a MAPP);
• develop a safety management system SMS, (see Schedule 2 of the COMAH Regulations);
• develop emergency procedure and implement as required, including informing the CA as soon as practicable (In Northern Ireland, you should contact the HSENI immediately by calling the 24-hour HSENI Helpline on Tel 0800 032 0121, and report the accident to the HSENI using the online form.  In Scotland you should report an accident using the Reporting Regulations (RIDDOR) online form.  You should also report any pollution incident as soon as it happens to the UK Wide Pollution Hotline on Tel 0800 80 70 60);
• provide information to the public
• for upper tier establishment: prepare a safety report: HSE: Preparing safety reports, in Northern Ireland HSENI: Preparing safety reports).

If there are any significant changes to the information you provided in your notification you must tell the HSENI or HSE immediately. You must also tell them if your site closes, or if any part of the site closes where dangerous substances are handled, produced, used or stored.

All COMAH sites must send a new notification to the competent authority by 1 June 2016.

Further information

Contact your environmental regulator

HSE: COMAH

HSENI: COMAH Guidance for Northern Ireland

HSENI: Guidance on preparing safety reports

HSE: COMAH - Safety reports