ABSTRACT
In 1976 a disaster that occurred in Italy was to become a milestone in the development of European safety and environmental legislation. The Icmesa Chemical Company manufactured herbicide in its works outside the small town of Seveso in northern Italy. Seveso was an entirely preventable disaster. It was a wake-up call to the European Commission, leading over the years to a series of European Directives bearing its name, implemented in the UK by the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH). Europe learnt a new lesson about the hazards of firefighting when a fire occurred at a chemical works on the upper reaches of the River Rhine. Fourteen people were treated for inhalation of toxic fumes but no one was killed. However, hundreds of thousands of fish were poisoned and the Rhine turned red. Risk assessments for sites storing large quantities of toxic chemicals need to take account of the risk of contaminated water running off during a firefighting operation.
