U/s 6, 8 and 25 of the Environment (Protection) Act. 1986, these rules were made enforceable from 27-11-1989. They were amended in 1994 & 2000.
They have 20 Rules and 12 Schedules as under:
R-1 – Short title and commencement.
R-2 – Definitions.
R-3 – Duties of Authorities : To inspect the industrial activity at least once in a year and to perform duties mentioned in Sch. 5.
R-4 – General responsibility of the occupier.
R-5 – Notification of major accident.
R-6 – Industrial activity to which rules 7 to 15 apply.
R-7 – Approval & Notification of sites.
R-8 – Updating of the site notification following changes in the threshold quantity.
R-9 – Transitional provisions.
R-10 – Safety Reports and Safety Audit Report.
R-11 – Updating of reports u/r 10.
R-12 – Requirement for further information to be sent to the authority.
R-13 – Preparation of on site emergency plan by the occupier.
R-14 – Preparation of off site emergency plan by the authority.
R-15 – Information to be given to persons liable to be affected by a major accident.
R-16 – Disclosure of information.
R-17 – Collection, Development and Dissemination of information.
R-18 – Import of hazardous chemicals.
R-19 – Improvement notices.
R-20 – Power of the Central Goverment to modify the schedules.
Then schedules as under-
Sch.1 – Indicative criteria and list of chemicals.
Part-I Toxic, flammable & Explosive chemicals.
Part-II List of 684 hazardous chemicals.
Sch. 2 – Isolated storage other than those covered by Sch. 4. Threshold quantities of 30 chemicals are given.
Sch. 3 – List of hazardous chemicals for application of R. 5 and 7 to 15. Part – I named chemicals, 179. Parts – II classes of chemicals not named in Part – I (Flammable gases and liquids).
Sch. 4 – Hazardous operations and process.
Sch. 5 – Authorities and their duties (addition).
Sch. 6 – Notification of a major accident.
Sch. 7 – Notification of sites. Part-I regarding site, Part-II regarding pipeline.
Sch. 8 – A safety report.
Sch. 9 – Safety data sheet (MSDS).
Sch. 10 – Record of hazardous chemicals imported.
Sch. 11 – Details of on – site emergency plan.
Sch. 12 – Details of off-site emergency plan.
Thus these rules impose a greater duty on occupiers and authorities in identifying major accident hazard (MAH) installations and taking safety measures for them.
