industry and environment - DTIE

Chemicals management
tries shall also take all necessary practical steps to
implement the provisions relating to the exchange
of information (e.g. information on hazardous
installations, the organization of emergency measures,
transmission of emergency warnings and
confidentiality).
◆ The Decision-Recommendation concerning
Provision of Information to the Public and Public
Participation in Decision-Making Processes related
to the Prevention of, and Response to, Accidents
involving Hazardous Substances requires member
countries to ensure that the potentially affected
public is provided with both specific information
on the safety measures they should adopt in the
event of an accident (and general information on
the potential effects of possible major accidents on
human health and the environment) and that it
has access to information needed to understand
the effects of an accident. This Council Act also
recommends that member countries take action
to facilitate opportunities for the public to comment
prior to decisions being made by authorities
concerning hazardous installations (siting, licensing,
etc.).
The OECD Guiding Principles mentions that
communication channels need to be two-way, and
that members of the community should participate
in the development and implementation of
communication programmes. Information provided
to the potentially affected public should
include specific guidance on what to expect in the
event of an accident, including:
◆ details about how the potentially affected public
will be warned of an accident or the imminent
threat of an accident;
◆ guidance for the potentially affected public concerning
the actions to be taken and behaviour to
be adopted in the event of an accident;
◆ an explanation of why the public should
behave/act as described in the guidance, so that it
understands how this will result in a mitigation of
adverse effects;
◆ source(s) of post-accident information (e.g.
radio or television frequencies);
◆ source(s) of additional explanations/information;
◆ point(s) of contact, where members of the public
can provide public authorities with information
related to a possible accident;
◆ how members of the public will be informed
when the emergency situation is over.
According to the Guiding Principles, the potentially
affected public should also be provided with
additional information about the hazardous
installations in their vicinity without having
specifically to request it. This information should
address:
◆ types of industries in the area and the chemicals
produced and used in these installations;
◆ name(s) of the enterprise(s) responsible for
installation(s) and address(es) of the installation(s);
◆ information relating to the types of possible
accidents that could cause serious off-site damage,
and their potential effects on health, the environment
and property;
◆ preventive measures that have been taken to
minimize the likelihood of accidents;
◆ a reference to the off-site emergency plan;
◆ point(s) of contact, where further explanatory
information and clarification can be obtained and
feedback can be provided to rescue services and
other authorities;
◆ information concerning expected activities at
the installation that may cause concern among
neighbours.
To avoid confusion and facilitate information
exchange, the mechanisms for obtaining and
delivering information should be as clear as possible
and should use, to the extent possible, known
and existing channels.
The OECD Guidance on SPI serves as a guide
to help industry, authorities and communities
measure the extent to which actions help improve
chemical safety. It provides a systemic approach to
measuring the success of stakeholders’ chemical
safety programmes by detailing targets, activity
indicators and outcome indicators. There is flexibility
for groups to design programmes to assess
their own performance related to prevention of,
preparedness for and response to chemical accidents.
The SPI Guidance also addresses cooperation
among industry, public authorities and the public:
◆ For industry, the target is to help ensure effective
cooperation with the public and other representatives
of the community (e.g. hospitals,
schools, nursing homes, environmental groups,
media and academia);
◆ For public authorities, the target is to establish a
two-way system of communication with the public,
providing an opportunity for public input to
the authorities (as well as providing information
to the public from authorities); such communication
will allow the two parties to learn from each
other.
The responsibility of members of the community
is twofold: information acquisition, and communication
of the information acquired to the
potentially affected public. For communities, the
target is that the potentially affected public understands
what actions to take in the event of an accident
involving hazardous substances.
Public availability and use of
information
The public will make use of information to the
extent that the information is understandable,
useful and easy to use. The more effort required,
the less likely the public is to seek out the data.
The data base of a public interest group on the
internet is viewed far more than an onsite inventory
with data from industry, which usually
requires more effort in order to find information
that is useful and understandable by the public.
Considerable information relevant to emergency
preparedness and response can also be
obtained from scientific data bases, web sites of
relevant institutions (including companies), articles,
publications, simple calculation tools available
in scientific literature, transport labelling on
materials, simple maps and aerial photographs.
However, such information is not provided in an
“organized“ manner, which would mean it could
easily be used by the community to promote safety.
It is essential that information be structured
and possibly explained, available in both “passive“
and “active“ forms, communicated effectively to
the potentially affected public, and translated into
facts and figures that can enhance public understanding
(and therefore its participation in decision-making).
Public-private partnerships for better
safety
Partnerships among governments, non-governmental
organizations and the chemical industry
are essential for enhancing environmental safety
and improving the capacity to mitigate the consequences
of chemical releases. The public’s rightto-know
and the dissemination of information
relevant to chemical safety are important components
of public-private partnerships.
Enterprises conducting chemical operations
should establish effective communication channels
with relevant public authorities at all levels of
government, including those responsible for
emergency preparedness and response, domestic
security, and public health and safety. Chemical
safety is not restricted to the production site. It
necessarily extends to the management of chemicals
from the supply chain to the environmentally
sound disposal of hazardous wastes.
Community right-to-know vs.
information security
Making information about risks in the community
available can help the public understand how
to react appropriately should there be a release of
hazardous chemicals. However, there is concern
that providing information to the public can also
give prospective terrorists information they could
use to plan or carry out terrorist acts on chemical
facilities.
As a general rule, society benefits when information
about the risks posed by chemical operations
is shared broadly. Some security related
information may increase risks if released broadly.
The fundamental question is whether a particular
form of disclosure of a particular kind of
information about some chemical operations
would, overall, reduce or increase the risk posed
by those operations. Authorities should establish
processes for making such determinations,
whether generically or in single cases. In some
cases, assessments of this type of risk lead to the
conclusion that internet access to risk management
programmes would increase the possibility
of a chemical release caused by terrorists or other
criminals. The terrorist acts of 11 September
2001 have refocused thinking about the balance
between terrorism concerns and public access; as
a result, authorities in some countries have
removed certain information on the safety in factories
from their website.
The processes of determining the balance between
public access and terrorism concern should
weigh the expected gain in safety against expected
losses, such as limitation of democratic rights or
the loss of safety and transparency gained by risk
communication. The 1993 OECD Workshop on
66 ◆ UNEP Industry and Environment April – September 2004