What is COMAH?

What is COMAH?

COMAH stands for The Control of Major Accident Hazards, helping businesses to take all the necessary measures to prevent major accidents with hazardous substances. It also limits the ramifications of any large scale accidents which do manifest, through enforcing regulations on hazardous substances to protect people and the environment.

COMAH is enforced in Great Britain by COMAH Competent Authority (CA) which is formed from five public bodies all working together in partnership.

These bodies are:

  • The Environment Agency
  • The Scottish Environment Protection Agency
  • The Health & Safety Executive
  • The Office for Nuclear Regulation
  • Natural Resources Wales

The CA aims to safely deliver a regime that ensures that the people responsible for producing these risks, due to their line of work, do so by meeting their responsibilities and managing them efficiently and safely.

Emergency preparations need to be in place, should anything go wrong and to reassure anyone who work or lives nearby somewhere that deals with hazardous substances that their safety is paramount to them.

The CA also help the industry to handle their activities in a safe manner and to understand that failures in doing so will affect the entire sector. The CA are fully committed to providing translucence in their decision making and operational functioning, so all policies and methodologies are clear and precise for everyone who are affected by them.

COMAH affects many different workplaces, including a few of the sectors below:

  • Medical
  • Car garages
  • Water works
  • Agriculture
  • Road works
  • Electrical plants
  • Aquatics
  • Forestry
  • Food industry
  • Construction

COMAH details all the procedures that are needed to be adhered to, for safety across all levels, no matter what hazardous substance the company may have to work with or produce.

Below are a few of the dangerous substances that are covered by the COMAH:

  • Iodine
  • Formaldehyde
  • Nicotine
  • Phosphoric acid
  • Petroleum oil
  • Sodium chlorate
  • Tar oil
  • Zinc

For more information and training on hazardous substances please take a look at our CIEH Level 2 Principles of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health and CIEH level 2 COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) courses for you to enquire about.