Increased risk of incidents (domino effect) Verification

The competent authority is obliged to determine to the operators of operating areas in accordance with the Major Accidents Ordinance which operating areas or groups of operating areas may have an increased probability of major accidents due to their geographical location, their distance from each other and the hazardous substances present in their installations or where these major accidents may have more serious consequences (domino effect). For the purposes of the assessment, the Authority shall use in particular:

• the information provided by the operator in the notification and in the safety report;
• the information provided by the operator following a request from the competent authority for additional information; and
• the information obtained by the competent authority through surveillance measures.

The information to be provided by the operator also includes conditions in the immediate vicinity of the operating area that may trigger an incident or aggravate its consequences, e.g. details of neighbouring operating areas, other operating sites that are not covered by the Major Accidents Ordinance and areas and developments from which an accident could emanate or where the probability of an accident occurring may increase, or the effects of an accident and domino effects. If the authority has additional information at its disposal, it shall make it available to the operator without delay if this is necessary for the cooperation of the operators.