Abstract
Aim: The evaluation of planning documents for Poznań area, in context of recording hazards presented by major industrial accidents
Introduction: In case of an accident, industrial plants, particularly those categorised as high risk (higher category), or plants with an elevated industrial accident risk (lesser category), may be a source of danger to the environment, inhabitants of the area and their property. Regional development planning provides a facility to mitigate such a risk through suitable planning of developments in the immediate vicinity of industrial plants and this information should be reflected in planning documents. There are five plants with an elevated industrial accident risk potential located in Poznań. There are no plants categorised as high risk plants in the area. A study covering the Poznań area was adopted in 1999 and revised in 2008, and in 2014. Only three out of five plants with an elevated industrial accident risk potential in Poznań are encapsulated by local management plans.
Methodology: Work was performed in the following stages; identification of plant location in Poznań, assignment of area management plans to the plants and analysis of provisions within accessible planning documents. Descriptive methods were used in the analysis.
Conclusions: Information about the location of plants with an elevated risk of an industrial accident and danger of a serious accident were found in one of the three analysed planning documents. This may be explained by the fact that all analysed local management plans were adopted before the introduction of regulatory requirements to incorporate an opinion about dangers of a serious industrial accidents. Consequently only one plant under scrutiny was categorised as a plant with an elevated risk of an industrial accident before adoption of the plan. A degree of optimism is generated by clear records, revealing the existence of industrial plants with an elevated risk of industrial accidents in the Poznań region, identification of the danger zone surrounding the plants and potential for a serious industrial accident, which was introduced into the study update of 2014. There was no evidence to show that that the concept of ‘safe distance’ was applied during planning. The article identified legal requirements effective from 15 September 2015, as well as proposed changes associated with the need to align Polish regulations to requirements of the new Seveso III Directive, which came into force on 1 June 2015. It may be pertinent to consider broadening draft regulations from the Minister for the Environment, dealing with the establishment of safe distances for the location of plants with a risk of a major accident, with the use of a mathematical reference model to identify danger zones.
Keywords: regional development planning, Seveso Directive, major industrial accident