ABSTRACT
The Flixborough disaster helped to catalyse change and revolutionise the approaches both to planning and to safety management in the UK, reinforcing the political will that was already driving forward radical changes in health and safety law. The British were not alone in experiencing this new kind of major industrial disaster. As the new Health and Safety Commission (HSC) was beginning its work in the UK, the Dutch government set up the Cobben Commission to review dangers presented by a chemical complex south of the town of Limberg. The Dutch authorities were to regret disaster when a fireworks warehouse exploded catastrophically in the town of Enschede, exposing bureaucratic muddle and confusion about roles and responsibilities. On 13 May 2000 a fire at a warehouse, the SE Fireworks Depot in Enschede, caused a series of explosions that killed 22 people and injured 947.
