Safety Engineering & Process Engineering

GICON has several experts recognized according to § 29a BImSchG. Our experts have already prepared expert opinions on this topic for several municipalities and operators and thus in some cases made corresponding planning possible in the first place. In the end, not only the affected parties benefit, but also the local residents.

This is a directive of the European Parliament and the Council on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances. Currently in force is the Seveso III Directive, which has been transposed into German law. Severe accidents on company premises usually have a massive impact on neighboring areas and their inhabitants. The aim of the Seveso III Directive is to prevent serious industrial accidents as far as possible or to limit or avoid these negative consequences as far as possible. In practical terms, this means that an "appropriate distance" must be maintained between operating areas and "objects worthy of protection" such as residential buildings or schools.

The KAS-18 guideline contains recommendations for distances between operational areas according to the Major Accidents Ordinance and areas requiring protection within the framework of urban land use planning. It is implemented in § 50 of the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG). It provides both the responsible authorities and affected companies with a set of instruments for determining appropriate distances.

In principle, two approaches are possible:

• If no detailed knowledge of the hazardous substances is available, the determination of the required distances can only be made in a generalized manner based on the properties of the substances.
• If detailed knowledge of the substances is available, specific scenarios can be considered and the distances adjusted accordingly.

The general determination does not take into account the specific handling of the substances and their actual quantity. Consequently, these distances are larger. This sometimes leads to considerable problems, especially in inner-city areas. If, on the other hand, knowledge of the substances is available, it is possible to quantify their effects (substance release, fire, explosion) in accident scenarios using recognized calculation models and to compare the results with assessment values. In many cases, this makes it possible to significantly reduce the otherwise general distances, which facilitates urban land-use planning, especially in urban locations. In this way, GICON has, among other things, brought a complete chemical plant for Schill + Seilacher "Struktol" GmbH in an inner-city location to approval.