Industrial Safety

The Seveso III Directive (Directive 2012/18/EU on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances) lays down the rules for prevention of major industrial accidents involving hazardous substances and for limiting the consequences of such accidents for human health and the environment. Under the Seveso III Directive, establishments where industrial processes involving hazardous substances are carried out are subject to reporting requirements to the relevant Member State national authorities.

In the Seveso Directive, "dangerous substances" refers to chemicals or mixtures that can cause major accidents. Such mixtures and substances are listed in Annex I of the Directive. For each type of substance, the Directive provides threshold quantities. The presence of these quantities in an establishment qualifies the establishment as a Seveso establishment that is required to apply rules set-out in the Directive.
Depending on the quantity of dangerous substances stored, establishments are classified to lower-tier and upper-tier.

The European Commission leads the EU implementation of the Seveso Directive. More information is available on the DG Environment site dedicated to Industrial Safety.