Emergency plans - Internal operation plan (IOP) and special intervention plan (SIP)

The industrial history of –, whether recent or not –, is punctuated by technological accidents. Some have left a lasting impression on people's minds (Seveso, AZF) and have necessarily prompted legislators to adapt the regulations governing hazardous installations. For several decades now, these regulations have evolved in successive stages, with four main areas of improvement:

• reducing risks at source ;

• emergency management ;

• controlling urbanization ;

• consultation and communication with the public.

These approaches are all closely linked, whether they are the strict obligation of the operator at the origin of the risk, or whether they involve – on a wider scale – the competent authorities, neighboring industrialists, local residents or the public.

The hazards study, the cornerstone of the entire risk management process, enables these major themes to be interlinked. Carried out under the responsibility of the plant operator :

• it identifies, analyzes and characterizes all the hazardous phenomena likely to occur and lead to a major accident: in this respect, it presides over the definition of rescue resources, whether for prevention or protection;

• It also lists the best available technologies, enabling manufacturers to position themselves in relation to these and facilitating their commitment to risk reduction at source;

• lastly, it provides the relevant authorities with the technical information needed to define the risk zones around the plant and the associated potential effects.

The hazardous accidents identified and their perimeters of effect identified and characterized in the hazard study are therefore the basis for the emergency plans set up for hazardous facilities.

These emergency plans may be the result of the proper application of the Environment Code (for facilities deemed to be the most dangerous, subject to the preparation of a hazard study and under the control of the Classified Facilities Inspectorate) or the employer's obligation for "classic" companies, be drawn up by the operator (when the consequences of foreseeable accidents are confined to the site) or be the responsibility of the State (when the consequences of foreseeable accidents may have consequences outside the establishment).

Regardless of their specific regulatory status, or who is responsible for drawing them up or implementing them, emergency plans are of fundamental importance in crisis avoidance and management. They must enable...