The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999

Notes

1.  Substances and preparations shall be classified for the purposes of this Schedule according to regulation 5 of the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 1994(1) whether or not the substance or preparation is required to be classified for the purposes of those Regulations, or, in the case of a pesticide approved under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985(2), in accordance with the classification assigned to it by that approval.

In the case of substances and preparations with properties giving rise to more than one classification, for the purposes of these Regulations the lowest thresholds shall apply.

2.  An “explosive” means:

(a) (i) a substance or preparation which creates the risk of an explosion by shock, friction, fire or other sources of ignition (risk phrase R 2),

(ii) a pyrotechnic substance is a substance (or mixture of substances) designed to produce heat, light, sound, gas or smoke or a combination of such effects through non-detonating self-sustained exothermic chemical reactions, or

(iii) an explosive or pyrotechnic substance or preparation contained in objects;

(b) a substance or preparation which creates extreme risks of explosion by shock, friction, fire or other sources of ignition (risk phrase R 3).

3.  “Flammable”, “highly flammable”, and “extremely flammable” in categories 6, 7 and 8 mean:

(a) flammable liquids—

• substances and preparations having a flash point equal to or greater than 21°C and less than or equal to 55°C (risk phrase R 10), supporting combustion;

(b) highly flammable liquids—

• substances and preparations which may become hot and finally catch fire in contact with air at ambient temperature without any input of energy (risk phrase R 17),

• substances which have a flash point lower than 55°C and which remain liquid under pressure, where particular processing conditions, such as high pressure or high temperature, may create major accident hazards;

(ii) substances and preparations having a flash point lower than 21°C and which are not extremely flammable (risk phrase R 11, second indent);

(c) extremely flammable gases and liquids—

(i) liquid substances and preparations which have a flash point lower than 0°C and the boiling point (or, in the case of a boiling range, the initial boiling point) of which at normal pressure is less than or equal to 35°C (risk phrase R 12, first indent), and

(ii) gaseous substances and preparations which are flammable in contact with air at ambient temperature and pressure (risk phrase R 12, second indent), whether or not kept in the gaseous or liquid state under pressure, excluding liquefied extremely flammable gases (including liquefied petroleum gas) and natural gas referred to in Part 2, and

(iii) flammable liquid substances and preparations maintained at a temperature above their boiling point.

4.  The addition of dangerous substances to determine the quantity present at an establishment shall be carried out according to the following rule:—

if the sum

where

q_x

=

the quantity of dangerous substances x (or category of dangerous substances) falling within Parts 2 or 3 of this Schedule,

Q

=

the relevant threshold quantity from Parts 2 or 3,

then the establishment is covered by the relevant requirements of these Regulations.

This rule will apply for the following circumstances—

(a) for substances and preparations appearing in Part 2 at quantities less than their individual qualifying quantity present with substances having the same classification from Part 3, and the addition of substances and preparations with the same classification from Part 3;

(b) for the addition of categories 1, 2 and 9 present at an establishment together;

(c) for the addition of categories 3, 4, 5, 6, 7a, 7b and 8, present at an establishment together.

(1)

S.I. 1994/3247.

(2)

c. 48.