Industrial major-accidents: hazard control, dangerous substances

The committee adopted the report by Giorgio LISI (EPP-ED, I) modifying the Council's common position under the 2nd reading of the codecision procedure. It reinstated, sometimes in modified form, a number of amendments adopted by Parliament at 1st reading. These were as follows: - on training, MEPs again emphasised that all employees, including the staff of sub-contracting firms, should be given accident prevention and emergency training; - all types of preparation entailing the use of dangerous substances should be included in the directive, and chemical and thermal processing operations should not therefore be excluded; - two new entries should be created for potassium nitrate, including their definitions and qualifying quantities; - the Commission and the Member States should 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; - the Commission should develop a scheme of incentives and/or funding for the relocation of establishments which do not provide for the appropriate safety distance; - to improve information to the public, maps should be compiled showing areas which might be affected by major accidents; - operators should be required to inform the competent authority of any substantial modification of an installation, an establishment or a storage area; - Member States should ensure that the different methods used for drawing up safety reports are harmonised.�