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Industrial accidents: Seveso II directive needs further improvement
The Environment Committee today insisted on including all forms of mining-related activity, and the industrial use of potassium nitrate (although not its use in farming) in a directive designed to prevent industrial accidents such as Seveso, Toulouse, Baia Mare and Aznalcóllar ever happening again. MEPs also want to see improved emergency training for staff. The accident at the AZF chemical factory in Toulouse in September 2001, in which 30 people died and about 2000 were injured, has been a key factor behind the revision of the "Seveso II" directive (codecision, now in second reading in Parliament).
In adopting the report by Giorgio LISI (EPP-ED, I) by 53 votes to 0 with 1 abstention, MEPs are sending a message to the Council that they want still stricter measures to tackle the risks of industrial accidents, even though they noted that many of Parliament’s first-reading amendments from last July were accepted by Council.
MEPs now want to emphasise the importance of staff training. Pointing to the large number of sub-contractors on the Toulouse site at the time of the accident, the committee called for rules on compulsory accident prevention and emergency training for employees to be spelt out more clearly than in the Council's common position. Although the Council has included mining, it has excluded chemical and thermal processing of dangerous substances in mines. MEPs insisted on including in the directive all types of preparation entailing the use of dangerous substances, so as to ensure that plants such as Aznalcóllar, where there was a damburst in 1998, are not excluded.
The committee also adopted an amendment calling on the Commission and the Member States to develop guidelines within three years of the adoption of the directive for setting up a harmonised technical database of risk data and risk scenarios to be used for assessing compatibility between existing establishments covered by this directive and certain sensitive areas. Guidelines should also be laid down on minimum safety distances between these two types of area.
On information to the public the committee is proposing further clarifications. The Council accepted Parliament’s position on information for the public but left out the provision that maps should be compiled showing the areas which might be affected by major accidents. The committee is therefore reinstating this requirement. Pictorial information would not only facilitate the work of management but also provide the public with clear information regarding the risks.
22.05.2003 Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection
In the chair: Caroline JACKSON (EPP-ED, UK)
Procedure: Codecision, second reading
Plenary vote: June, Brussels
Source: Euro
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