Emergency planning; creation of external emergency plans

External emergency planning is part of the regulations for preventing serious accidents that could be caused by certain industrial activities and for limiting the consequences of accidents for human health and the environment. It supplements the federal regulations on internal accident prevention and limiting the consequences for the operators of certain plants and facilities with measures outside the plant in the event of an accident.

As part of preventive disaster control, the district administrative authorities must draw up, update and test alarm and deployment plans for certain hazardous incident operations as defined by the Hazardous Incident Ordinance (12th BImSchV) on the basis of corresponding operator information .

External emergency plans are drawn up in order to

1. to contain and control incidents so that the consequences can be minimized and damage to people, natural resources and property can be limited;
2. to take measures to protect people and the natural environment from the consequences of major accidents;
3. to pass on the necessary information to the public and the authorities or departments concerned in the area in question;
4. to initiate clean-up operations and measures to restore the natural basis of life after a serious accident.

The external emergency plan must contain information on

1. Names or positions of persons authorized to initiate emergency measures and to carry out and coordinate off-site measures;
2. Arrangements for receiving early warnings, triggering alarms and notifying the emergency services;
3. Arrangements for coordinating the resources required to implement the external emergency plan;
4. Arrangements to support remedial action on the premises;
5. Arrangements for off-site remedial measures, including response measures to major accident scenarios as described in the safety report and consideration of potential domino effects, including those impacting on natural habitats;
6. Arrangements for informing the public and any neighboring establishments or premises that do not fall within the scope of Directive 2012/18/EU about the accident and the correct behavior;
7. Arrangements for informing the emergency services of other Member States of the European Communities in the event of a serious accident with possible cross-border consequences.

• Bavarian Civil Protection Act (BayKSG)
• Twelfth Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act (Major Accidents Ordinance - 12th BImSchV)
• Directive 2012/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, amending and subsequently repealing Council Directive 96/82/EC

• Immission control; transmission of information before commissioning an upper-tier operating area in accordance with the Major Accidents Ordinance
• Immission control; transmission of information prior to accident-relevant changes to an upper-tier operating area in accordance with the Major Accidents Ordinance