In 4.4.7, it says: The organization shall establish, implement and maintain a procedure(s) to identify potential emergency situations and potential accidents that can have an impact(s) on the environment and how it will respond to them.

Does anyone show me examples of differences between emergency situations and accidents?

Thank you!

Jelly :cool:

They are considered the same for planning and performance purposes.

Think...BHOPAL!

They are considered the same for planning and performance purposes.

Think...BHOPAL!

Tragic, but very applicable example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster)....

Stijloor.

Bhophal is the exact historical event that was used for the creation of 4.4.7 and the requirement in 4.4.2 for personal awareness of emergency responsibilities.

Hi

The following definitions were used by us in our ISO-14001 systems; these may be useful to you.

1. Environmental Accident: An event that can lead to contamination of air, water and soil and may cause risk to to the organization in terms of liability (compliance and beyond), damage to property and people and image. Generally it is assumed that this event is confined to the boundaries of the organization.
2. Environmental Emergency: An accident that goes beyond the boundaries of the organization, leading to one or more of the following: (a) evacuation of people in the neighbourhood (b) contamination of water/air/soil in the neighbouhood which warrants emergency actions, (c) situation defined as emergency in law, (d) extensive damage to flora /fauana/property in the neighbourhood and (e) a situation if not attended to can cause any or all the above.

I am writing this from my memory; this may be refined further. At least the above will give you an idea as to how to proceed defining "accidents" and "emergencies". My experience so far is that it is important to define these terms for better control of/ response to these events.

With kind regards,

Ram