COMAH Notification forms

Statutory Information required by the Competent Authority

Although there is no prescribed form for notifying the Competent Authority (CA) under regulation 6 of the COMAH Regulations, you are encouraged to use these forms. They will help you to provide the relevant information and it will assist the CA to record and assess the information provided.

If you believe that any of the information should be excluded from the public register because it could be contrary to the interests of national security, or is personally or commercially confidential, please indicate those parts by enclosing them in square brackets. Please do not use square brackets for any other purpose in the notification. See Schedule 8 of COMAH for details of what may be excluded.

For confidentiality issues, application should be made to the CA via your local HSE office. You will need to justify why such an exclusion should be granted; see paragraph 18 of schedule 8 of COMAH.

On security issues, operators will need to apply to the Secretary of State to request that information contrary to the interests of national security be excluded from the COMAH public register. For sites in England and Wales, operators should contact the Secretary of State via HIDHQ Admin, Health & Safety Executive, 5S2 Redgrave Court, Merton Road, Bootle L20 7HS

For sites in Scotland, operators should contact the Secretary of State via Team Leader, SEPA Sponsorship Team, Environment Protection Unit, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ.

You must also notify the CA (via your local HSE office) that an application to the Secretary of State has been made.

The CA will advise you if they disagree with the exclusion and advise you how to appeal to the Secretary of State if you wish to do so.

Detailed guidance on COMAH is contained in the publication "A Guide to the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999". Operators are strongly advised to obtain and refer to this guidance.

You may send the notification by post or electronically. As electronic communication cannot be guaranteed to be secure, you may decide not to use this means if you regard any of the information as having national security implications or if its content is confidential.

The Form

The Form comprises two parts:

Part A covers statutory information required by the CA; the information supplied in this notification will form part of a public register.

Part B covers statutory information required by the CA but also includes additional administrative information for internal use by the CA, and hence the Part B form may not be placed on the public register. Certain information may be excluded from the public register if it is commercially or personally confidential, or if its’ inclusion would be contrary to the interests of national security. This information can be supplied on the Part B form, which once accepted, will not be placed on the public register.

The Form is provided in word format

• Form A and Form B

Please send the completed notification by post to:

COMAH Notifications
Health and Safety Executive
Hazardous Installations Directorate
Chemical Industries Division
2.2 Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
Merseyside
L20 7HS

or to your local HSE Office.

Alternatively, you may send it by e-mail to:
comah.notifications@hse.gov.uk
The Competent authority will confirm receipt within 10 working days