G.O. (Ms.) No. 61, Industrial Major Accident Hazard Rules Amendments, 2018

What it governs

G.O. (Ms.) No. 61, Labour and Employment (M2) Department, dated 24 May 2018, changes the rules governing industrial activities involving hazardous chemicals that can create major accident risks. The Tamil Nadu Governor made the amendments using powers under the Factories Act, 1948, after publication of a draft as required by that Act.

Who it affects

G.O. (Ms.) No. 61 is relevant to industrial locations that manufacture, process, handle, transport or separately store hazardous chemicals. Its scope expressly includes transport by vehicle or pipeline when determining whether a location is a major accident hazard installation.

For a property buyer or owner, the notification is particularly relevant where land contains, or is intended to contain, an industrial activity, separate chemical storage facility or pipeline involving hazardous chemicals. The supplied text concerns industrial chemical hazards rather than ordinary land ownership or title records.

Key changes

G.O. (Ms.) No. 61 makes the following changes:

• It replaces certain uses of “and” with “or”, broadening the stated alternatives used to determine coverage.
• It adds separate storage and pipelines to the relevant definitions.
• It defines a major accident hazard installation as separate storage or an industrial activity at one location that handles hazardous chemicals at or above the threshold quantities in Schedules 2 and 3.
• It defines threshold quantity by reference to the quantities listed in the corresponding columns of Schedules 2 and 3.
• It changes the heading concerning notification of sites to cover approval and notification of sites.
• It replaces Schedule 1 with classifications for toxic chemicals, flammable gases and liquids, and explosives.

Chemical classifications

The replacement Schedule 1 classifies hazardous chemicals by their properties and potential to cause major accidents. It covers:

• Chemicals with acute toxicity, classified using oral, skin and inhalation lethal dose measurements.
• Flammable gases at 20 degrees Celsius and standard pressure.
• Easily flammable, highly flammable, extensively flammable and combustible liquids, classified by flash point and boiling point.
• Explosives capable of producing damaging gases, heat, light, sound, smoke or combinations of these effects.

The listed hazardous chemicals include acetaldehyde, acetone, acetylene, ammonia, ammonium nitrate, benzene, bromine, butane, carbon disulphide, carbon monoxide and chlorine, among many others.