BRZO / Seveso

The Besluit risico’s zware ongevallen is the Dutch implementation of the European Seveso Directive. It applies to companies storing or processing hazardous substances above certain threshold quantities. Lower-tier establishments must have a prevention policy and a safety management system; upper-tier establishments additionally need a safety report and an internal emergency plan.

Seveso companies fall under the joint supervision of the environmental agency, the labour inspectorate and the safety region. Training and demonstrable competence of staff are an explicit part of the safety management system, and therefore of what an inspector tests.

The safety report describes scenarios that rarely or never occur, which is exactly why they are written down. That same quality makes them hard to train: you cannot act out an ammonia leak on a running installation. This is where simulation earns its money, not as technology but as the only way to rehearse the unthinkable before it happens.