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Recent Safety and Environmental Legislation
RECENT SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION DEVELOPMENTS IN SAFETY LEGISLATIONÐUK New Internet Aid for Small Firms Using Chemicals
HSE undertook to provide a range of straightforward information products to help small ®rms develop sector speci®c health and safety plans. The Essentials Routemap is one example of the new range of user-friendly electronic products HSE is now producing. The Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy sets new targets for reducing work-related injury and ill health over the next ten years and stresses that businesses must make workers’ health and safety a management priority or face increased penalties and court sentences for health and safety offences. Copies of Essentials Routemap, ISBN 0 7176 1807 2, price £95 + VAT and the Essentials of Health and Safety at Work, ISBN 0 7176 0716 X, price £5.95 can be ordered online at http://www.hsebooks.co.uk or are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA (Tel: 01787 881165, Fax: 01787 313995). HSE priced publications are also available from all good bookshops. Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy Statement is available from DETR Free Literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7NB (Tel: 0870 1226236, Fax: 0870 1226237).
A cross-government initiative that will help small ®rms manage the health, safety and environmental risks from chemicals in the workplace was announced in March 2001. The innovative new internet-based system will bring together advice in these areas and tailor it to address the needs of individual ®rms. The project has been made possible through funding from the Treasury’s Invest to Save Budget and illustrates the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) and the Environmental Agency’s (EA) commitment to the delivery of modern and joined-up government. HSE and the EA are collaborating on the development of the system, which is expected to take three years. The Treasury is contributing £250,000 to the cost. This will be used to pay for staff, and to enable the research and development necessary to realize a system that fully meets the requirements of its clientele. The project recognizes that smaller companies in particular often face dif®culties in seeking to comply with a plethora of legal duties. Currently, ®rms who use chemicals in the workplace may have to consult many different guidance documents and agencies, in order to ensure that they have all the information needed. This project will allow information on the health, safety and environmental risks from chemicals to be accessed through a single electronic gateway. It will also give its customers user-friendly advice relevant to the circumstances of each enterprise.
Burning Questions on Radiation Danger Levels Answered in HSE Report The effects thermal radiation has on humans are looked at using medical and experimental data in a contract research report prepared by WS Atkins Consultants Ltd for the HSE. Dangerous doses of thermal radiation for an average population wearing a standard level of clothing are reviewed in Thermal Radiation Criteria for Vulnerable Populations. The report will particularly help companies and consultants carrying out risk assessments on the impact of thermal radiation on peopleÐe.g. from schools, hospitals and homes for the elderlyÐwho ®nd themselves at the scene of a major ®re. The many factors that affect human responses are considered and the differences between the responses of children and elderly to those of an `average’ population are identi®ed. For children, the main differences include:
New Computer Software Helps Small Firms Raise Their Health and Safety Standards The HSE, in collaboration with Royal and Sun Alliance, has published Essentials of Health and Safety Routemap, an easy-to-use computer software package designed to help small businesses improve their health and safety awareness. The Essentials Routemap includes a user guide and a copy of the Essentials of Health and Safety at Work handbook, the HSE’s most popular health and safety publication selling 400,000 copies so far. By using simple question and answer techniques, the easy-to-use software package produces health and safety reports, enabling employers to identify speci®c health and safety areas for improvement. The software then takes the user through a process of preparing their own health and safety policy and risk assessment based on known hazards in their own particular business. The software can be completed in as little as one day, or in a number of ¯exible stages. Although Essentials is primarily aimed at small to medium sized businesses, it is anticipated that the software will also be used to provide in-house risk teams and large multinationals with a useful health and safety training tool. As part of the Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy, launched by the Deputy Prime Minister on 7 June 2000, Trans IChemE, Vol 79, Part B, May 2001
· a reduced ability to tolerate the infection and surgery associated with serious burns; · a greater area of exposed skin; · more severe consequences associated with scarring. In the elderly, infection and surgery are also more of a risk than for younger adults and skin is typically thinner, resulting in more severe burns from the same dose. These factors are considered in detail, and related to the actual mechanisms of fatality that occur in the body, in order to provide a sound basis for recommending dose criteria for vulnerable populations. 191
192
RECENT SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
A `dangerous dose’ criterion of 1000 (kWm ±2)4/3 s of thermal radiation has been derived by HSE for an average population with a standard level of clothing. The likelihood of fatality for a given severity and area of burn is strongly dependent on age, and `vulnerable’ populationsÐchildren and the elderlyÐare more likely to suffer fatalities than an average population. HSE presently uses a `dangerous dose’ criterion of 500 (kWm ±2)4/3 s for these vulnerable groups, which is reappraised in this study. Copies of Thermal Radiation Criteria for Vulnerable Populations (Contract Research Report 285/2000), ISBN 0 7176 1837 4, price £15, can be ordered online at: http:// www.hsebooks.co.uk or are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA (Tel: 01787 881165, Fax: 01787 313995). Priced publications are also available from all good bookshops. These reports and the work described were funded by the HSE. Their contents, including any opinions and conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily re¯ect HSE policy. Selected by David Phillips from information given on HSE’s website: www.hse.gov.uk DEVELOPMENTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIONÐUK New Appointments to Sustainable Development Education Panel The drive to promote education for sustainable development was boosted in March with the appointment of eight new members to the Sustainable Development Education Panel. Ministers from the Department of Environment, Transport and Regions (DETR) and the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) have selected eight new members to replace those stepping down after serving on the Panel for three years. The new members cover a broad range of experience and will, with the existing Panel members, provide an advisory body able to consider all aspects of sustainable development education. Seven of the existing Panel members are retiring and eleven will be reappointed for a further two years, at which time the Panel and its work will be reviewed. The Panel gives the Government independent advice on educating all parts of society about the need for sustainable development. It promotes good practice, shares information and encourages joint working between organizations. Life Cycle Assessment of PVC Published PVC (polyvinyl chloride) does affect the environment. But a report of research carried out for the DETR states that its impacts are not excessive relative to commonlyused alternatives which have impacts of their own. The new report, published in March 2001, aims to inform the current debate on PVC and looks at the relative risks and the environmental impacts of PVCÐfrom raw materials, through use, to disposal. As a contribution to developing policy on PVC, DETR is seeking comments on the study which took the novel approach of combining a life cycle assessment with a limited risk assessment and economic analysis.
PVC is an extremely versatile material, used for a wide range of diverse applications. However, there are concerns over its possible environmental impacts, particularly toxic emissions from manufacture and disposal; production of toxic by-products in accidental ®res; and the use of additives, such as phthalates and heavy metals. The new report analyses the life cycle of PVC and compares it with the life cycle of selected alternative materials such as timber, aluminium and other plastics. PVC was found to be the best material for some uses, but not allÐalthough the differences were marginal. Life cycle assessments enable relative environmental impacts of materials and their alternatives in speci®ed applications to be assessed. They also help identify which stages of a product’s life cycle are associated with the greatest environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment of Polyvinyl Chloride and Alternatives: Summary Report, by Entec UK Limited and Ecobalance UK, is published by DETR and is available from Rehan Haidar, DETR, 3/F6 Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE (Tel 020 7944 5867). Alternatively, it can be downloaded from the DETR website: http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/index/htm New Guidance Paves Way for Sustainable Waste Management Local waste collection and disposal authorities should now work together, along with local stakeholders, to produce a municipal waste management strategy for their area, under new Guidance published in March. Guidance on Municipal Waste Management Strategies includes the new statutory targets for all local authorities to double current recycling and composting by 2003±04 and triple it by 2005±6. The Guidance also outlines local authorities’ central role in delivering sustainable waste management. Councils will need to plan their waste services with other councils, citizens and other stakeholders to: · meet their statutory performance standards for recycling and composting; · help meet the UK’s legal obligations to reduce land®ll of biodegradable waste. Municipal waste management strategies should be prepared within the context of the wider agenda for modernizing local government. Having strengthened the local authorities’ position as leaders of their communities, the Government believes this will open up wider opportunities for extensive partnerships across a range of functions and especially waste management. Diversity in service provision is essential if local authorities are to achieve the changes in performance to achieve higher recycling rates. It also includes promised guidance on the Waste Minimization Act 1998, and gives the ®nalized recycling/composting rates for all English authorities in 1998/99 and the statutory performance standards derived from them. More Companies React to Meacher’s Call for Environmental Reports Twenty two out of the 30 top UK businesses challenged to publish annual environment reports have responded positively. Trans IChemE, Vol 79, Part B, May 2001
RECENT SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION Environment Minister Michael Meacher wrote last year to the 30 FTSE100 companies at the bottom of an independent survey on environmental reporting, asking them why they did not report and urging them to do so. · In the telecoms sector, for years BT was the only reporter, before Cable and Wireless published its ®rst report in 1999. Now Orange will also publish a report early this year and Vodafone, Energis and Telewest plan their ®rst reports in 2001. Colt Telecom however has not yet made a ®rm commitment to report substantively on environmental performance. · In the ®nancial sector, Amvescap, HSBC Bank, Schroders, Standard Chartered Bank, and Zurich Financial Services now plan to report for the ®rst time this year. Mr Meacher will take a close interest in whether the Royal Bank of Scotland will build on the good reporting record of NatWest. · In the media sector BSkyB, Pearson and Granada Media will report by the end of 2001. However no ®rm commitments have yet been made by either the Daily Mail and General Trust, or the United News and Media. · The software company Misys is leading the IT sector by agreeing to report on its website. · Other companies which have agreed to report include Associated British Foods, Canary Wharf Group, Granada Compass, Great Universal Stores, GKN, Hays, Marks and Spencer, Rentokil Initial and Smiths Industries. Securicor will sign up to the Government’s Making a Corporate Commitment campaign as a ®rst step towards full reporting. · Companies which have not yet made a ®rm commitment are Imperial Tobacco Group, Reed Elsevier, Reuters and SageÐthey are encouraged to report by the end of 2001. Selected by Rolf Clayton from information given on DETR’s website: www.detr.gov.uk GERMANY The Federal Ministers for Health and Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety have published a Decree on the Establishment of a Common ad-hoc Commission on the Harmonization of the Procedures and Structures of Risk Assessment and Standardization in Health-related Environmental Protection in the Federal Republic (Bundesanzeiger No 3, 5 January 2001, pp 169± 170). Procedures for risk assessment and standardization are to be developed, with input from scientists, social groups and politicians. While risk assessment is primarily a scienti®c problem, standardization is also determined by political and social aspects. The task of the Commission is
Trans IChemE, Vol 79, Part B, May 2001
193
to determine objectives, develop adequate procedures and harmonize them in respect to assessment and standardization. In two years’ time the Commission will make a recommendation on procedures and decision-making in the ®eld of health-related environmental protection. The Commission will have 22 members, with delegates from the Federal Of®ces of Radiation Protection, Water Protection and Medicine, Environment, the Federal Institute of Health Related Consumer Protection and Veterinary, and from the Robert Koch Institute. The members will be specialists in the ®elds of toxicology, radiation biology, environmental epidemiology, environmental medicine, environmental law, environmental economy and risk communication. Areas to be examined are air, water, soil, foods, radiation, noise and toxic chemicals. H.J. Uth has published the Incidence Ordinance (StoÈrfallverordnung) and all related ordinances and regulations together with comments and supplementary material (Bundesanzeiger No 10a, 16 January 2001, 337 pp). This is a valuable tool for the practitioner. The Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture (a ministry formed as a consequence of BSE and Foot and Mouth Disease) has published the 2nd Ordinance on Protection against Foot and Mouth Disease from the UK (Bundesanzeiger No 48, 9 March 2001, 3637 pp). This ordinance states that all animals imported from the UK must be slaughtered. The animals must be transported directly to the abattoir, and must not come into contact with other herds. The trucks must be disinfected before leaving the premises. To minimize transport of spent nuclear fuels, German nuclear power plants are required to build on-site storage facilities. The spent fuel elements are packed in CASTOR shielding and transport casks. These additional storage plants (two central storage plants with suf®cient capacity are available in Germany) are a consequence of the agreement on termination of nuclear power in Germany between a delegation of German nuclear power plant operators and the Federal Government (see Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part B, September 2000, pp 422). Information on the storage technique and the licensing situation are given in the German journal atw, 46, March 2001, pp 172±179 (summary in English). Manfred Laser
HSE undertook to provide a range of straightforward information products to help small ®rms develop sector speci®c health and safety plans. The Essentials Routemap is one example of the new range of user-friendly electronic products HSE is now producing. The Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy sets new targets for reducing work-related injury and ill health over the next ten years and stresses that businesses must make workers’ health and safety a management priority or face increased penalties and court sentences for health and safety offences. Copies of Essentials Routemap, ISBN 0 7176 1807 2, price £95 + VAT and the Essentials of Health and Safety at Work, ISBN 0 7176 0716 X, price £5.95 can be ordered online at http://www.hsebooks.co.uk or are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA (Tel: 01787 881165, Fax: 01787 313995). HSE priced publications are also available from all good bookshops. Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy Statement is available from DETR Free Literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7NB (Tel: 0870 1226236, Fax: 0870 1226237).
A cross-government initiative that will help small ®rms manage the health, safety and environmental risks from chemicals in the workplace was announced in March 2001. The innovative new internet-based system will bring together advice in these areas and tailor it to address the needs of individual ®rms. The project has been made possible through funding from the Treasury’s Invest to Save Budget and illustrates the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) and the Environmental Agency’s (EA) commitment to the delivery of modern and joined-up government. HSE and the EA are collaborating on the development of the system, which is expected to take three years. The Treasury is contributing £250,000 to the cost. This will be used to pay for staff, and to enable the research and development necessary to realize a system that fully meets the requirements of its clientele. The project recognizes that smaller companies in particular often face dif®culties in seeking to comply with a plethora of legal duties. Currently, ®rms who use chemicals in the workplace may have to consult many different guidance documents and agencies, in order to ensure that they have all the information needed. This project will allow information on the health, safety and environmental risks from chemicals to be accessed through a single electronic gateway. It will also give its customers user-friendly advice relevant to the circumstances of each enterprise.
Burning Questions on Radiation Danger Levels Answered in HSE Report The effects thermal radiation has on humans are looked at using medical and experimental data in a contract research report prepared by WS Atkins Consultants Ltd for the HSE. Dangerous doses of thermal radiation for an average population wearing a standard level of clothing are reviewed in Thermal Radiation Criteria for Vulnerable Populations. The report will particularly help companies and consultants carrying out risk assessments on the impact of thermal radiation on peopleÐe.g. from schools, hospitals and homes for the elderlyÐwho ®nd themselves at the scene of a major ®re. The many factors that affect human responses are considered and the differences between the responses of children and elderly to those of an `average’ population are identi®ed. For children, the main differences include:
New Computer Software Helps Small Firms Raise Their Health and Safety Standards The HSE, in collaboration with Royal and Sun Alliance, has published Essentials of Health and Safety Routemap, an easy-to-use computer software package designed to help small businesses improve their health and safety awareness. The Essentials Routemap includes a user guide and a copy of the Essentials of Health and Safety at Work handbook, the HSE’s most popular health and safety publication selling 400,000 copies so far. By using simple question and answer techniques, the easy-to-use software package produces health and safety reports, enabling employers to identify speci®c health and safety areas for improvement. The software then takes the user through a process of preparing their own health and safety policy and risk assessment based on known hazards in their own particular business. The software can be completed in as little as one day, or in a number of ¯exible stages. Although Essentials is primarily aimed at small to medium sized businesses, it is anticipated that the software will also be used to provide in-house risk teams and large multinationals with a useful health and safety training tool. As part of the Revitalising Health and Safety Strategy, launched by the Deputy Prime Minister on 7 June 2000, Trans IChemE, Vol 79, Part B, May 2001
· a reduced ability to tolerate the infection and surgery associated with serious burns; · a greater area of exposed skin; · more severe consequences associated with scarring. In the elderly, infection and surgery are also more of a risk than for younger adults and skin is typically thinner, resulting in more severe burns from the same dose. These factors are considered in detail, and related to the actual mechanisms of fatality that occur in the body, in order to provide a sound basis for recommending dose criteria for vulnerable populations. 191
192
RECENT SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION
A `dangerous dose’ criterion of 1000 (kWm ±2)4/3 s of thermal radiation has been derived by HSE for an average population with a standard level of clothing. The likelihood of fatality for a given severity and area of burn is strongly dependent on age, and `vulnerable’ populationsÐchildren and the elderlyÐare more likely to suffer fatalities than an average population. HSE presently uses a `dangerous dose’ criterion of 500 (kWm ±2)4/3 s for these vulnerable groups, which is reappraised in this study. Copies of Thermal Radiation Criteria for Vulnerable Populations (Contract Research Report 285/2000), ISBN 0 7176 1837 4, price £15, can be ordered online at: http:// www.hsebooks.co.uk or are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA (Tel: 01787 881165, Fax: 01787 313995). Priced publications are also available from all good bookshops. These reports and the work described were funded by the HSE. Their contents, including any opinions and conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily re¯ect HSE policy. Selected by David Phillips from information given on HSE’s website: www.hse.gov.uk DEVELOPMENTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIONÐUK New Appointments to Sustainable Development Education Panel The drive to promote education for sustainable development was boosted in March with the appointment of eight new members to the Sustainable Development Education Panel. Ministers from the Department of Environment, Transport and Regions (DETR) and the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) have selected eight new members to replace those stepping down after serving on the Panel for three years. The new members cover a broad range of experience and will, with the existing Panel members, provide an advisory body able to consider all aspects of sustainable development education. Seven of the existing Panel members are retiring and eleven will be reappointed for a further two years, at which time the Panel and its work will be reviewed. The Panel gives the Government independent advice on educating all parts of society about the need for sustainable development. It promotes good practice, shares information and encourages joint working between organizations. Life Cycle Assessment of PVC Published PVC (polyvinyl chloride) does affect the environment. But a report of research carried out for the DETR states that its impacts are not excessive relative to commonlyused alternatives which have impacts of their own. The new report, published in March 2001, aims to inform the current debate on PVC and looks at the relative risks and the environmental impacts of PVCÐfrom raw materials, through use, to disposal. As a contribution to developing policy on PVC, DETR is seeking comments on the study which took the novel approach of combining a life cycle assessment with a limited risk assessment and economic analysis.
PVC is an extremely versatile material, used for a wide range of diverse applications. However, there are concerns over its possible environmental impacts, particularly toxic emissions from manufacture and disposal; production of toxic by-products in accidental ®res; and the use of additives, such as phthalates and heavy metals. The new report analyses the life cycle of PVC and compares it with the life cycle of selected alternative materials such as timber, aluminium and other plastics. PVC was found to be the best material for some uses, but not allÐalthough the differences were marginal. Life cycle assessments enable relative environmental impacts of materials and their alternatives in speci®ed applications to be assessed. They also help identify which stages of a product’s life cycle are associated with the greatest environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment of Polyvinyl Chloride and Alternatives: Summary Report, by Entec UK Limited and Ecobalance UK, is published by DETR and is available from Rehan Haidar, DETR, 3/F6 Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE (Tel 020 7944 5867). Alternatively, it can be downloaded from the DETR website: http://www.environment.detr.gov.uk/index/htm New Guidance Paves Way for Sustainable Waste Management Local waste collection and disposal authorities should now work together, along with local stakeholders, to produce a municipal waste management strategy for their area, under new Guidance published in March. Guidance on Municipal Waste Management Strategies includes the new statutory targets for all local authorities to double current recycling and composting by 2003±04 and triple it by 2005±6. The Guidance also outlines local authorities’ central role in delivering sustainable waste management. Councils will need to plan their waste services with other councils, citizens and other stakeholders to: · meet their statutory performance standards for recycling and composting; · help meet the UK’s legal obligations to reduce land®ll of biodegradable waste. Municipal waste management strategies should be prepared within the context of the wider agenda for modernizing local government. Having strengthened the local authorities’ position as leaders of their communities, the Government believes this will open up wider opportunities for extensive partnerships across a range of functions and especially waste management. Diversity in service provision is essential if local authorities are to achieve the changes in performance to achieve higher recycling rates. It also includes promised guidance on the Waste Minimization Act 1998, and gives the ®nalized recycling/composting rates for all English authorities in 1998/99 and the statutory performance standards derived from them. More Companies React to Meacher’s Call for Environmental Reports Twenty two out of the 30 top UK businesses challenged to publish annual environment reports have responded positively. Trans IChemE, Vol 79, Part B, May 2001
RECENT SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION Environment Minister Michael Meacher wrote last year to the 30 FTSE100 companies at the bottom of an independent survey on environmental reporting, asking them why they did not report and urging them to do so. · In the telecoms sector, for years BT was the only reporter, before Cable and Wireless published its ®rst report in 1999. Now Orange will also publish a report early this year and Vodafone, Energis and Telewest plan their ®rst reports in 2001. Colt Telecom however has not yet made a ®rm commitment to report substantively on environmental performance. · In the ®nancial sector, Amvescap, HSBC Bank, Schroders, Standard Chartered Bank, and Zurich Financial Services now plan to report for the ®rst time this year. Mr Meacher will take a close interest in whether the Royal Bank of Scotland will build on the good reporting record of NatWest. · In the media sector BSkyB, Pearson and Granada Media will report by the end of 2001. However no ®rm commitments have yet been made by either the Daily Mail and General Trust, or the United News and Media. · The software company Misys is leading the IT sector by agreeing to report on its website. · Other companies which have agreed to report include Associated British Foods, Canary Wharf Group, Granada Compass, Great Universal Stores, GKN, Hays, Marks and Spencer, Rentokil Initial and Smiths Industries. Securicor will sign up to the Government’s Making a Corporate Commitment campaign as a ®rst step towards full reporting. · Companies which have not yet made a ®rm commitment are Imperial Tobacco Group, Reed Elsevier, Reuters and SageÐthey are encouraged to report by the end of 2001. Selected by Rolf Clayton from information given on DETR’s website: www.detr.gov.uk GERMANY The Federal Ministers for Health and Environment, Nature Conservation and Reactor Safety have published a Decree on the Establishment of a Common ad-hoc Commission on the Harmonization of the Procedures and Structures of Risk Assessment and Standardization in Health-related Environmental Protection in the Federal Republic (Bundesanzeiger No 3, 5 January 2001, pp 169± 170). Procedures for risk assessment and standardization are to be developed, with input from scientists, social groups and politicians. While risk assessment is primarily a scienti®c problem, standardization is also determined by political and social aspects. The task of the Commission is
Trans IChemE, Vol 79, Part B, May 2001
193
to determine objectives, develop adequate procedures and harmonize them in respect to assessment and standardization. In two years’ time the Commission will make a recommendation on procedures and decision-making in the ®eld of health-related environmental protection. The Commission will have 22 members, with delegates from the Federal Of®ces of Radiation Protection, Water Protection and Medicine, Environment, the Federal Institute of Health Related Consumer Protection and Veterinary, and from the Robert Koch Institute. The members will be specialists in the ®elds of toxicology, radiation biology, environmental epidemiology, environmental medicine, environmental law, environmental economy and risk communication. Areas to be examined are air, water, soil, foods, radiation, noise and toxic chemicals. H.J. Uth has published the Incidence Ordinance (StoÈrfallverordnung) and all related ordinances and regulations together with comments and supplementary material (Bundesanzeiger No 10a, 16 January 2001, 337 pp). This is a valuable tool for the practitioner. The Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture (a ministry formed as a consequence of BSE and Foot and Mouth Disease) has published the 2nd Ordinance on Protection against Foot and Mouth Disease from the UK (Bundesanzeiger No 48, 9 March 2001, 3637 pp). This ordinance states that all animals imported from the UK must be slaughtered. The animals must be transported directly to the abattoir, and must not come into contact with other herds. The trucks must be disinfected before leaving the premises. To minimize transport of spent nuclear fuels, German nuclear power plants are required to build on-site storage facilities. The spent fuel elements are packed in CASTOR shielding and transport casks. These additional storage plants (two central storage plants with suf®cient capacity are available in Germany) are a consequence of the agreement on termination of nuclear power in Germany between a delegation of German nuclear power plant operators and the Federal Government (see Trans IChemE, Vol 78, Part B, September 2000, pp 422). Information on the storage technique and the licensing situation are given in the German journal atw, 46, March 2001, pp 172±179 (summary in English). Manfred Laser