The Major Accidents (Risks) Decree 2015 was repealed on 1 January 2024 and incorporated into the new Environment and Planning Act.
The new Environment and Planning Act consolidates 26 statutes relating to the physical environment into a single act. It is further implemented through 4 Orders in Council:
- Environment and Planning Decree
- Environmental Quality Decree
- Environmental Activities Decree
- Structures (Living Environment) Decree
The contents of the Brzo 2015 are now contained in the first 3 of these Orders in Council.
The new Environment and Planning Act includes rules for companies that work with large quantities of hazardous substances. If something goes wrong at these 'Seveso establishments', the consequences can be serious for the health and safety of employees, nearby residents and the environment.
These rules aim to prevent major accidents involving hazardous substances. They are also intended to limit the consequences of a major accident as far as possible should one occur.
A large proportion of Seveso establishments are also subject to the ARIE scheme (in other words the Supplementary Risk Inventory and Evaluation scheme).
Environment and Planning Act and the Seveso Directive
The rules for Seveso establishments are contained in the Environment and Planning Act, the Dutch transposition of a European directive governing companies that work with hazardous substances: the Seveso Directive. The directive was prompted by several major accidents, including a disaster in 1976 in the northern Italian town of Seveso. During that accident, a toxic gas was released, causing serious health damage to a large part of the population. Following this accident, the European Community developed legislation to better protect people and the environment from industrial accidents.
Inspection process
The Environment and Planning Decrees place responsibility for controlling safety risks on Seveso establishments and set out the objectives those establishments must meet. Supervisory authorities monitor whether establishments properly control the safe handling of hazardous substances and meet those objectives. In doing so, they focus in particular on the safety management system that establishments must use for this purpose.
Because of the high risks involved, Seveso establishments are inspected every year. These inspections are carried out by an inspection team made up of several supervisory authorities working together within the BRZO+ partnership.
During inspections at Seveso establishments, inspectors from the Netherlands Labour Authority assess not only whether the safety management system is properly documented but also whether it functions effectively in practice. Inspectors also examine whether companies have implemented all measures necessary to prevent major accidents and to limit the consequences for employees. Such inspections are extensive, usually last several days and require substantial involvement from the company.
Inspection topics
During routine Brzo inspections, the Netherlands Labour Authority focuses on specific risks. At present, these include the following topics:
Where necessary, particular attention is given to the measures companies must implement to comply with the obligations in the Working Conditions Decree relating to safe working in areas where explosive atmospheres may occur (European Directive ATEX 153) and the obligations in the Explosion-Proof Materials (Commodities Act) Decree 2016 (European Directive ATEX 114).
For 2 specific issues, the supervisory approach to safe working in explosive atmospheres has been clarified in consultation with industry. Further information is available on our Explosive atmosphere page. The purpose of this supervisory approach is to prevent explosive atmospheres and control explosion risks.
During inspections, the Netherlands Labour Authority's focus includes the inspection and maintenance of explosion-protected equipment.
A significant proportion of Seveso establishments use pressure equipment such as pressure vessels, steam boilers, pipelines and the like. The risks associated with this equipment must obviously be controlled. The requirements governing the manufacture, commissioning and use of pressure equipment are set out in the Pressure Equipment (Commodities Act) Decree.
Pressure equipment that poses a risk must comply with the statutory requirements and must be inspected when commissioned and periodically during the operational phase. During inspections, the Netherlands Labour Authority checks, among other things, whether these statutory requirements have been met.
During periodic inspections, the Netherlands Labour Authority focuses specifically on the themes of 'safe and proper maintenance' and 'the functioning of maintenance management systems'. Incident analyses in recent years have shown that many incidents were related to maintenance or deficiencies in the maintenance management system.
Inspections may also take place during 'maintenance shutdowns'. These inspections focus on working conditions, possible labour market fraud and measures to prevent major accidents involving hazardous substances.
Netherlands Labour Authority inspectors also examine how installations containing hazardous substances are prepared for maintenance work, so that the work can be carried out safely.
The loading and unloading of road tankers carrying hazardous substances is inextricably linked to companies that work with such substances. During these operations, there is a risk that hazardous substances may be unintentionally released.
It is important to control this risk effectively, as accidents during loading and unloading occur with some regularity. Inspectors from the joint Seveso authorities – including the Netherlands Labour Authority – critically examined the loading and unloading process in 2023 and 2024. This formed one of the inspection projects carried out within the SEVESO+ context.
More information on the results of this inspection topic for the period 2023–2024 can be found on our page Inspection results for 2023–2024 transfer operations.
Inspection results
The results of inspections at Seveso establishments are recorded in reports. Among other things, these reports specify what aspects were examined during the inspection and which violations were identified.
For every inspection carried out within the BRZO+ partnership, a public summary is published on the website seveso-plus.nl. This summary provides information on the inspections, the findings and any violations. Where a violation has been identified, the summary indicates its severity.