Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulation

The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulation is the enforcing regulation within the United Kingdom of the European Commission Seveso II Directive.  Both regulations serve as the guidelines for the safety of facilities that work with dangerous substances. The goal is to prevent major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, and should an accident occur, the regulation aims to limit the consequences of such accidents. COMAH protects not only safety and health aspects of employees, contractors and neighboring citizens, but also the environment and community surrounding regulated facilities. COMAH aids facilities in their efforts to prevent or mitigate chemical releases that could lead to a catastrophe in the workplace or to the surrounding community. COMAH is enforced in the UK by the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency (SEPA) in Scotland.

Impact

The COMAH regulations operate on two levels, determined by dangerous substance inventory levels. All facilities are required to document a Major Accident Prevention Policy while top tier facilities are required to produce a full safety report that demonstrates that all necessary measures have been taken to minimise risks posed by the site.

To control chemical hazards, employers need to develop the necessary expertise, experiences, judgment and proactive initiative within their workforce to properly implement and maintain an effective process safety management program as envisioned in the standard. Employers who merge all six elements into one plan will better assure full compliance as well as enhance their safety culture.

Challenge

An effective process safety management program requires a systematic approach to evaluating  the whole process. Process safety management is the proactive identification, evaluation and prevention of chemical releases that could occur as a result of failures in process, procedures or equipment.

It is easy to become overwhelmed with information while completing all the stages of COMAH and to find more problems than solutions.  Without a mechanism to link information from each requirement it becomes extremely difficult to manage all the information and ensure that each element is followed as required.

The Dyadem Solution

Consider that each PSM element is the spoke of a wheel, and that the purpose of the wheel is to prevent catastrophic events. Each spoke must remain healthy and must be connected to the wheel in order for the wheel to accomplish its purpose effectively.  Limited communication can limit success.

Dyadem provides the foundation for that wheel and the integration framework to link information from one step to the next.  Dyadem’s Operational Risk Management platform not only simplifies your PSM practices with configurable workflows but also organizes all of your data – whether a dynamic PHA, Management of Change request, static document, multimedia file or photo.  Sharing information between the various groups that are responsible for PSM allows you to work on multiple parts of compliance simultaneously, and efficiently mitigates risks and addresses Seveso II more efficiently. As both resources and regulatory pressures continue to grow tighter, you simply can't afford to waste time or money as you work to keep your overall risks tolerable.