The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015

Regulation 26

SCHEDULE 5 Criteria for the notification of a major accident to the European Commission

1.  A major accident meets the criteria in this Schedule if it meets the criteria in paragraph 2 or 3.

2.  A major accident falling within paragraph (a), or having at least one of the consequences described in paragraphs (b) to (e)—

(a) any fire or explosion or accidental discharge of a dangerous substance involving a quantity of at least 5% of the quantity in Column 3 of Part 1 or in Column 3 of Part 2 of Schedule 1;

(b) injury to persons and damage to property—

(i) a death;

(ii) six persons injured within the establishment and hospitalised for at least 24 hours;

(iii) one person outside the establishment hospitalised for at least 24 hours;

(iv) a dwelling outside the establishment damaged and unusable as a result of the accident;

(v) the evacuation or confinement of persons for more than 2 hours where the value (persons × hours) is at least 500; or

(vi) the interruption of drinking water, electricity, gas or telephone services for more than 2 hours where the value (persons × hours) is at least 1,000;

(c) immediate damage to the environment—

(i) permanent or long term damage to terrestrial habitats—

(aa) 0.5 hectares or more of a habitat of environmental or conservation importance protected by legislation; or

(bb) 10 or more hectares of more widespread habitat, including agricultural land;

(ii) significant or long-term damage to freshwater and marine habitats—

(aa) 10 km or more of river or canal;

(bb) 1 hectare or more of a lake or pond;

(cc) 2 hectares or more of delta; or

(dd) 2 hectares or more of a coastline or open sea; or

(iii) significant damage to an aquifer or underground water: 1 hectare or more;

(d) damage to property—

(i) damage to property in the establishment, to the value of at least EUR 2,000,000; or

(ii) damage to property outside the establishment, to the value of at least EUR 500,000;

(e) cross-border damage: any major accident directly involving a dangerous substance giving rise to consequences outside the territory of the Member State concerned.

3.  Any accidents or ‘near misses’ which the Member State regards as being of particular technical interest for preventing major accidents and limiting their consequences and which do not meet the quantitative criteria in paragraph 2.