HSE Publishes New Guide On Assessing Responses To COMAH Incidents

A new Electrical, Control & Instrumentation (E,C&I) Inspection Delivery Guide has been produced. It provides a concise guide detailing how HSE will assess compliance across its three major inspection topics – functional safety, explosive and toxic gas atmospheres and electrical power systems.

The Delivery Guide (DG) describes how the COMAH Competent Authority (CA) inspects Electrical, Control and Instrumentation (EC&I) aspects of control of major hazards at COMAH sites. Its purpose is to ensure consistency within the regulation of COMAH and to provide transparency to Operators about what is expected and the way inspector resource is targeted.

The need for such a document is clearly identified as being becuase of a failure to control process conditions and the risks from electrical installations and equipment.

The document sites this as being the main or underlying cause in many major accidents both in the UK and abroad including Buncefield and BP Texas City. It argues that HSE research into the causation of major accidents and incidents indicates that failure to adequately control process conditions, especially during normal operations, is responsible for the loss of containment of hazardous substances.

As stated above, its purpose is to ensure consistency within the regulation of Control Of Major Accidents Hazards (COMAH) and to provide transparency to Operators about what is expected and the way inspector resource is targeted. The guide includes the benchmark standards that are used to assess the way Operators manage risk. They represent a consensus between regulators, technical experts, duty holders and other stakeholders on what constitutes proportionate action to control a given hazard. Electrical, Control and Instrumentation engineering is supported by comprehensive established standards that should not require further interpretation.

Whilst primarily aimed at HSE EC&I inspectors, this guide will be useful to Operators in managing risk in relation to major accident hazards and preparing for CA inspections.

At the same time, the HSE has produced a new Electrical, Control & Instrumentation (E,C&I) web portal aimed at providing a clear, concise and easily accessible access point for all relevant EC&I information regarding the regulation of topics such as functional safety, explosive atmospheres and electrical power systems for duty holders in the COMAH sector.

The document can be downloaded in PDF format from the E-Library Database using the keyword 'COMAH'

Source: HSE

Designed, Hosted and Maintained by Union Safety Services