A consultation has been launched to seek views on categorising heavy fuel oils (HFO) as ‘petroleum products’.
The HSE is proposing to amend the Control of Major Accident Hazards regulations 1999 (COMAH) to implement Article 30 of Council Directive 2012/18/EU, to categorise heavy fuel oils (HFO) as ‘petroleum products’.
This means that HFO will be categorised as ‘petroleum products’ rather than ‘dangerous for the environment’, which will significantly increase the qualifying threshold inventories before the requirements of COMAH become applicable.
The inventories for lower tier and top tier sites will increase from 100 to 2,500 tonnes, and from 200 to 25,000 tonnes respectively.
This amendment is effectively an interim measure until the changed requirements of HFO are captured in COMAH 2015, which will be introduce on 1 June 2015 to implement Seveso III in full.
The consultation seeks views on the initial assessment of the costs and benefits of the proposed change; whether the proposed changed enable businesses to identify what they need to do; and whether stakeholders are content with the proposed approach.
The consultation relates to regulations that apply in England, Scotland and Wales.
