Rachel McCann, of the Health and Safety Executive, has moved to downplay concerns that an increased flow of public information as required by the impending Seveso 3 directive could hold national security implications.
The directive states that certain information from inspections and about major accident scenarios must be made available to the public.
Ms McCann told delegates at the Tank Storage Association’s annual conference that the regulators had been “intensively” involved with the security services.
“They are happy with that information to be made available in the public domain. They are also happy with the system as it stands,” she said, explaining that some potentially sensitive pieces of information would go through upon “a reaction process” upon request.
Whilst members of the public could request access to information, such occurrences were very rare, she added.
“We are in constant touch with the security services about this to make sure we fulfill the requirements of the directive – we have to do so by law otherwise we run the risk of infraction.”
Ms McCann stressed that the HSE was committed to ensuring that the Home Office is “happy that we are not putting out any information into the public domain that places any site or any people who live or work around the site in jeopardy”.
The Seveso 2 Directive will be replaced by the Seveso 3 Directive on 1st June 2015.
