What Will We Face at the Current Stage of the Regulation on the Prevention of the Effects of Major Industrial Accidents?

Between 1959 and 1996, many major industrial accidents occurred worldwide, creating the necessity for legal enforcement to prevent such accidents. Following a serious industrial accident that occurred in the town of Seveso, Italy in 1976, the Seveso Directive (82/501/EEC), a directive on accident prevention in industrial facilities, was adopted. Through the Fourth Environmental Action Programme, it was determined that Directive 82/502/EEC needed to be applied more effectively, and a content modification proposal was submitted that would allow for the expansion of its scope if necessary and enable greater information exchange among member states. In its Fifth Action Programme dated 1 February 1993, the Council emphasized and decided on better risk and accident management implementation. In the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents held in Helsinki, Finland on 17 March 1992 by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, measures were required not only to ensure international cooperation in this field but also to prevent industrial accidents with transboundary effects, to be prepared for them, and to take action in the event such accidents occur. Finally, the new and revised Second Directive (96/82/EEC) was adopted in 1996 and replaced Directive 82/501/EEC. Following accidents in Enschede, Baia Mare and Toulouse, the EU expanded the scope of SEVESO II and, to address certain deficiencies identified in SEVESO II, conducted additional work and published Directive 2003/105/EEC on 16 December 2003. SEVESO III Directive 2012/18/EEC was adopted by the EU Council of Ministers on 26 June 2012. The new directive entered into force on 1 January 2015. The "Directive on the Control of Major-Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances" Directive 96/82/EC (SEVESO II) was repealed in 2015.

Seveso Directive Legislation in Our Country

Although SEVESO II Directive was repealed in the European Union, it was harmonized into our legislation as the Regulation on the Prevention of the Effects of Major Industrial Accidents. SEVESO III Directive 2012/18/EEC has not yet been harmonized in our country; it is expected to be harmonized in the coming years. Two ministry units have authority in SEVESO II Directive harmonization work. The Ministry of Environment and Urbanization is authorized for notification, registration and facility information database operations and inspection, while the Ministry of Labour and Social Security is authorized for Security Report review, inspection, and similar matters. In addition to these, AFAD, as with other types of disasters, works on risk identification and reduction resulting from industrial accidents, preliminary studies and research, preparation of external emergency action plans and response to incidents, search and rescue operations.

The Regulation on the Prevention of the Effects of Major Industrial Accidents, in particular, imposes significant obligations on upper-tier establishments. Within the scope of the Regulation, employers must:

• Establish a Safety Management System, • Conduct quantitative risk assessment and prepare major accident scenarios, • Demonstrate that the highest level of measures possible (ALARP) is at the 1x10-4 level, • Prepare a Safety Report, • Prepare an internal emergency plan regarding measures to be taken within the facility. The external emergency plan shall be prepared by Provincial Disaster and Emergency Management Directorates. Among all these responsibilities, the most important is the preparation of the "Safety Report". Safety reports include: • Information on the organization's major accident prevention policy and safety management system, • Description of the organization's surroundings, • Description of the facility, • Identification of hazards, • Quantitative risk assessment and prevention methods, • Protection and response measures to be implemented to limit the consequences of an accident. In the process of preparing the Safety Report, we see that the SEVESO Directive requires quantitative risk assessment. The quantitative risk assessment must demonstrate that major accident hazards have been identified, that necessary measures have been taken to prevent major accidents and limit their consequences on the environment and humans. Any facility, storage facility, equipment, or infrastructure within the organization that could lead to a major accident must demonstrate that adequate safety has been provided in its design, construction, operation and maintenance, and must demonstrate that the highest level of measures possible (ALARP) is at the 1x10-4 level.

Current Status – Major Industrial Accident Prevention Directive – SEVESO II Directive Obligations

Within the scope of the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects, upper-tier establishments were required to submit their Safety Report and lower-tier establishments their Major Accident Prevention Policy (BKÖP) to the ministries by 30 June 2017. However, pursuant to the Regulation on Amendment to the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects published in the Official Gazette dated 18 July 2017, No. 30127, the Regulation was extended. The Regulation on Amendment to the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects, effective as of 1 July 2017, shall enter into force on the date of publication of the Regulation. Pursuant to Article 1, the phrase "1/7/2017" in clause (b) of the first paragraph of Article 25 of the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects published in the Official Gazette dated 30 December 2013, No. 28867 (repeated), was changed to "1/7/2019". That is, pursuant to Article 1, factories must ensure the "highest level of measures possible" by 1 July 2019. The operator must reduce the frequency of occurrence of all types of consequences of each major accident scenario provided for dangerous equipment identified according to the quantitative risk assessment to a level of 1x10-4/year or a lower level. Regarding upper-tier organizations falling under the scope of this Regulation, Provincial Disaster and Emergency Management Directorates are obliged to prepare or have prepared an external emergency plan, with no less information than specified in Sections 1 and 3 of Annex 4, taking into account the notification specified in the twelfth paragraph of Article 13. It is also seen from the same article that Provincial Disaster and Emergency Management Directorates were given a deadline for the preparation of External Action Plans. The obligation to prepare External Action Plans shall begin as of 1 July 2019. Provincial Disaster and Emergency Management Directorates shall prepare their external emergency plans within 6 months from this date. Pursuant to Article 2 of the Regulation on Amendment to the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects, additions were made to the same Regulation. Pursuant to Temporary Article 2, the provisions of Articles 10 and 11, namely the articles related to Safety Report and BKÖP, shall not be applied until 31 December 2018. A provision was made that proceedings conducted within the framework of Articles 10 and 11 from 31 December 2016 until the date this article enters into force shall have no effect. In this context, records from which Safety Reports were previously read and deficiencies notified shall be invalidated. Within this scope, security reports submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security shall be returned to the organizations. Pursuant to Article 3 of the Regulation on Amendment to the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects, Annex 1 was modified in accordance with Regulation 1272/2008/EC CLP – Classification Labelling Packaging (Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures). Thus, the R codes prepared within the framework of Directive 67/548/EEC on Dangerous Substances (Dangerous Substances Directive-DSD) and Directive 1999/45/EC on Dangerous Preparations (Dangerous Preparations Directive-DPD), which enabled BEKRA notification in the annex to the Regulation, were removed. The Directive applies to organizations containing certain hazardous substances in quantities capable of causing major accident damage. An establishment is subject to the Directive if the storage of hazardous substances listed in Section 1 and 2 of Annex I exceeds the quantity specified in the Annex. Pursuant to Temporary Article 3 of the Regulation, a change was made to Article 7 of the Regulation. Accordingly, notifications made within the scope of Annex 1 shall be updated within one year from the date of publication of this article. In this case, companies would need to update their BEKRA notifications by 18 July 2018. This situation requires significant workload and labor for companies. Moreover, it is important that correct data be entered into the BEKRA system. Since the system automatically calculates the company level in the background but does not show it to the company. The company must calculate its own level and, in particular, correctly apply the aggregation rules. Otherwise, in the coming year, it may face administrative obligations and administrative sanctions in this respect. The fact that Article 8, which explains the "Quantitative risk assessment" of the Regulation, was not extended has caused confusion and perplexity. All Organizations falling within the scope of the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects are simultaneously subject to the provisions of Law No. 6331 on Occupational Health and Safety. The extension made to the Regulation was only made to Articles 10 and 11; in reality, it should have also extended other processes dependent on these articles. However, the Regulation does not clearly mention any extension. As of now, workplaces are still obliged to conduct quantitative risk assessment. This suggests that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security intends to implement the Regulation through pilot inspections. Since organizations falling within the scope of the Regulation are workplaces subject to Law No. 6331, in conducting the risk assessments they will perform while conducting risk assessments, they must comply both with the provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 29 December 2012, No. 28512, and with the quantitative risk assessment in accordance with Article 8 of the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects. If either risk assessment is missing, operations at the workplace shall be suspended in accordance with Article 25/1 of Law No. 6331. According to Article 8 of the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects, risk assessment must be conducted using quantitative methods for the purpose of identifying major industrial accident hazards in lower and upper-tier organizations and evaluating risks arising from these hazards. In quantitative risk assessment, hazards that could lead to major accidents and the matters specified below must be considered: • Classification of hazardous chemicals, quantities of these chemicals and their interactions, • Evaluation of chemical exposure from human and/or environmental perspectives, • Explosive atmospheres and their permanence, explosive atmosphere classification and suitability of equipment to be used in these areas, • Identification and grouping of hazardous equipment in the process, • Interactions between process hazards and process equipment and/or instruments, • Reliability assessment and certification of process instruments and emergency shutdown systems, • Reliability data in maintenance and repair operations, • Reliability-centered maintenance and risk-based inspection methods to be implemented, • Root cause and consequence analysis of major accident scenarios, • Past accidents and quantitative probability of recurrence of these accidents, • Human errors and reliability analysis. The operator must provide detailed information in the Safety Report it has prepared about which data banks it obtained the reliability data used in the quantitative risk assessment and probability data used in major accident scenarios, such as maintenance records, accident analyses, or instrumentation safety certification. The operator of an upper-tier organization shall send the prepared risk assessment documents together with the Safety Report in digital format to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Additionally, it must also demonstrate that it has achieved the highest level of measures possible through its quantitative risk assessment. Pursuant to Article 9 of the Regulation, the operator must reduce the frequency of occurrence of all types of consequences of each major accident scenario provided for dangerous equipment identified according to the quantitative risk assessment to a level of 1x10-4/year or a lower level.

Conclusion:

There is a two-year timeframe for all articles of the Regulation on the Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents and Reduction of Their Effects to enter into force. However, unfortunately, although the "Safety Report Notification and BKÖP Notification" have been published according to the Regulation for upper-tier and lower-tier organizations, there is not much information on how they should prepare their Safety Reports and BKÖP. Upper-tier and lower-tier organizations that will create a Major Industrial Accident Prevention Policy in their operations and establish a Safety Management System will need to prove through the quantitative risk assessment they conduct in their workplaces that the results of the measures they have taken in their operations maintain the ALARP level of 1x10-4. Although EU guidelines and standards exist regarding the work to be done, particularly on quantitative risk assessment, and quantitative risk assessment techniques, there is no explanatory information regarding what details the Ministry of Labour and Social Security pays attention to when examining these analyses. Within the framework of the Regulation, there is an urgent need for a guide that can provide some guidance to organizations, particularly on the subject of "Quantitative Risk Assessment". Özlem Özkılıç / Chemical Engineer / MLSS-Retired Chief Labour Inspector / Class A Occupational Safety Specialist / Deputy General Manager Önder Akademi