Where are the 1,300 Seveso sites located in France, and what are the risks? (2023)

FAQs

What is a Seveso site? ›

What are Seveso sites? Seveso Sites are defined as Industrial sites that, because of the presence of dangerous substances in sufficient quantities, are regulated under Council Directives 96/82/ECand 2003/105/EC , commonly referred to as the Seveso II Directive.

In July 1976, a chemical plant explosion near Seveso, Italy exposed locals to the highest known levels of 2,3,7,8-tetracholorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD or dioxin) exposure to a residential population (Mocarelli 2001; Pesatori and Bertazzi 2012).

Set up preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance helps to increase the level of safety and efficiency of industrial equipment. Implementing and planning a preventive maintenance strategy reduces the risk of leaks or explosions at Seveso sites.

Its primary objectives were to prevent major accidents involving dangerous substances and limit the possible consequences of such accidents for human health and the environment. Subsequent incidents led to amendments to the Seveso Directive, and Seveso II (Directive 96/82/EC) was eventually adopted on 9 December 1996.

Icmesa produced Trichlorophenol, which is used to produce the disinfectant Hexachlorophene. The company was located in four communes; one of them Seveso. None of the 20,000 people who lived in Seveso died, but the poison killed 3,000 farm animals and pets.

It aims to control major accident hazards involving dangerous substances, especially chemicals and contributes to the technological disaster risk reduction effort.

According to Doctor Uehara's "the cause of the Seveso accident", 190 °C overheated steam was used as a heat medium for distillation to prevent the process temperature rising above 180 °C. According to "Loss Prevention", 300 °C steam was supplied during the accident due to a low load of the steam turbine.

An unforeseeable accident on July 10, 1976, in Seveso, Italy, led to an environmental contamination with caustic reaction products and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Original contamination of vegetation was in the order of O. 5 ppm TCDD.

Remaining houses were decontaminated, furniture replaced and thousands of trees replanted. The debris was buried in two large tunnels beneath what would become the Bosco delle Querce, but it was not until six years after the disaster that clean-up of the plant itself was completed.

The local government, in coordinated efforts with ICMESA, embarked on cleaning up the contaminated area. These efforts were a true success, and by April 1984, decontamination of Zone A was complete.

What is a major accident hazard? ›

A Major Accident Hazard is a source of danger that has the potential to cause a major incident, whether that involves multiple fatalities and/or significant damage to plant, equipment or the environment. Managing Major Accident Hazards is vital to safe operations.

Reducing exposure to hazards, lessening vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improving preparedness and early warning for adverse events are all examples of disaster risk reduction.

An excess mortality rate from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases was uncovered, and excess of diabetes cases was also found. Results of cancer incidence and mortality follow-up showed an increased occurrence of cancer of the gastrointestinal sites and of the lymphatic and hematopoietic tissue.

About 37,000 people are believed to have been exposed to the chemicals, according to researchers familiar with the case. Approximately 4 percent of local farm animals died, and those that didn't -- roughly 80,000 animals -- were killed to prevent contamination from filtering up the food chain.

Twenty-five years ago, one of the Western world's worst chemical disasters took place in Seveso, near Milan, Italy. A toxic cloud laced with chlorine and dioxin escaped from a factory owned by an affiliate of the Swiss multinational, Roche.

In the Seveso disaster, the reactor safety disk broke because of an increase in temperature and pressure in the reactor due to an exothermic side reaction. The bursting of the container resulted in the release of a large quantity of dioxins into the atmosphere.

Upper-tier establishments (type II) are establishments where the amount of dangerous substances is equal to or exceeds the high qualifying quantity.

The territory of the commume is highly urbanised, with the majority of inhabitants living in the town.

Seveso. / (sɛˈveɪsəʊ) / noun. a town in N Italy, near Milan: evacuated in 1976 after contamination by a poisonous cloud of dioxin gas released from a factory.

These disasters result in disruption through damage to property, physical injury and death, psychological distress, displacement of individuals and families, and prolonged disruption to a broad range of services upon which communities rely.

What was the Seveso disaster for kids? ›

The Seveso disaster was a chemical accident on 10 July 1976, at the small Italian town of Meda, 20 km from Milan in Lombardy. There was an explosion at a chemical factory which released a lot of the toxic poison dioxin, TCDD, into the air. The cloud of poison gas covered an area 6 km long and 1 km wide.

A natural disaster can lead to the loss of life or property damage. Other catastrophes, such as wildfires, floods and tornadoes, can completely defoliate forests and cause ecosystems to experience other forms of structural changes.

EPA develops procedures and methods to contain and mitigate contamination and to remediate the environment following public health and environmental incidents and disasters.

Several other studies have produced similar results, and every study that we know of shows that the percentage of car accidents that are caused by human error is at least 90%.

When looking at collisions between motor vehicles, angle collisions cause the greatest number of deaths (about 9,000 in 2021). The interactive chart also shows the estimated number of deaths, injuries, fatal crashes, injury crashes, and all crashes for various types of motor-vehicle crashes.

Head-On Collisions

Inarguably the most dangerous type of car accident in which a person can be, a head-on collision occurs when two vehicles collide after driving toward each other in a straight path.

Earthquakes are one of the most unpredictable and damaging disasters.

A disaster is defined as a disruption on a massive scale, either natural or man-made, occurring in short or long periods. Disasters can lead to human, material, economic or environmental hardships, which can be beyond the bearable capacity of the affected society.

Nature-based solutions, such as conserving forests, wetlands and coral reefs, can help communities prepare for, cope with, and recover from disasters, including slow-onset events such as drought.

The waste and material destroyed were place in barrels to be incinerated in Switzerland. The equipment was removed and decontaminated.

When did Seveso dioxin cloud happen? ›

On July 10, 1976, an explosion at a northern Italian chemical plant released a thick, white cloud of dioxin that quickly settled on the town of Seveso, north of Milan.

Anecdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake. However, consistent and reliable behavior prior to seismic events, and a mechanism explaining how it could work, still eludes us.

Plenty of studies have shown that some animals can sense major changes in the weather. Worms, for instance, are known to flee rising groundwater. Birds are known to be sensitive to air pressure changes, and often hunker down before a big storm.

The wind, rain, and debris from storms injure and kill animals and cause a lot of damage to their habitats, including destroying shelters and contaminating food and water sources.

This town, Times Beach, Missouri, was the site of one of the worst environmental disasters in our nation's history. Nearly 40 years ago, an individual was paid to spray material on the roads to suppress the dust in this small Midwest town.

The aim of Seveso III/COMAH Regulations is to both prevent major accidents involving dangerous substances in the workplace and to limit the consequences of such accidents to people and the environment. There are legally binding requirements on all establishments affected by the regulation.

The principles

The Seveso-III-Directive (2012/18/EU) aims at the prevention of major accidents involving dangerous substances. However, as accidents may nevertheless occur, it also aims at limiting the consequences of such accidents not only for human health but also for the environment.

Twenty-five years ago, one of the Western world's worst chemical disasters took place in Seveso, near Milan, Italy. A toxic cloud laced with chlorine and dioxin escaped from a factory owned by an affiliate of the Swiss multinational, Roche. Today, local residents are still fighting for compensation.

There are two levels of COMAH site: Lower Tier sites, which hold a smaller hazardous inventory; and Upper Tier sites, which have larger hazardous inventories, and are considered to be more potentially hazardous. The regulatory requirements are more stringent for Upper Tier sites.

The qualifying threshold in tonnes is 50te for lower tier ( LT ) and 200te for upper tier ( UT ) COMAH . Biogas is aggregated with other flammable gases or liquids, such as liquid petroleum gas ( LPG , propane or butane) or diesel. These have individual lower tier COMAH limits of 50 tonnes and 2500 tonnes respectively.

What is upper and lower tier in COMAH? ›

These threshold quantities vary for different categories of substances. If you store or use more than the lower threshold for a dangerous substance your site is classed as a lower tier establishment. If you store or use more than the higher threshold your site is an upper tier establishment.

The Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations ensuring that businesses: "Take all necessary measures to prevent major accidents involving dangerous substances. Limit the consequences to people and the environment of any major accidents which do occur"

COMAH aims to prevent and mitigate the effects of major accidents involving dangerous substances which can cause serious damage/harm to people and/or the environment. COMAH treats risks to the environment as seriously as those to people.

Hydrogen is a named dangerous substance under COMAH regulations. The threshold quantities are 5 Tonnes (lower tier) and 50 Tonnes (upper tier).

The COMAH Regulations are enforced by the competent authority. This is the Environment Agency acting jointly with the Health and Safety Executive ( HSE ) or the Office for Nuclear Regulation ( ONR ).

Summary. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund, authorizes the President to respond to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances into the environment.

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) 1992 provides a legal framework for preventing or controlling the exposure of persons to hazardous substances arising from work activities.