Selected Formal and Legal Aspects to Emergency Plans for High-Risk Establishments and the State Fire Service
Authors: Bogdan Kołcz  
Published: September 2024

Aim: The article presents issues concerning selected formal and legal elements in the field of emergency plans relating to administrative authorities, plant operators and the State Fire Service. In this context a review of legal acts concerning the functioning of the system of preventing major industrial accidents was made. The subject was based on the provisions of the European Union law and national regulations in the field of environmental law and executive acts indicating the need to supplement them in the task area and to implement uniform principles in the issue of actions taken. Introduction: The main objective of the accident prevention system is to limit, eliminate and remove the effects of a major accident, therefore the public administration and operators of establishments should ensure effective and efficient actions to save life, health, property and the environment. The tasks of preventing, combating and removing the effects of an accident are performed to various degrees by the operators of establishments, administrative bodies, rescue entities, which are conditioned, on the one hand, by legal regulations and, on the other hand, by the organisational capabilities of executive teams. Therefore, it is justified to review legal regulations and to present selected tasks concerning prevention of major accidents in relation to administration bodies, rescue entities and operators of establishments responsible for combating and removing effects of a major accident. Project and methods: The article was developed using a comparative and descriptive analysis of selected elements from legal acts and a review of the literature on the subject. With reference to selected elements of safety against major industrial accidents, empirical research was undertaken using a diagnostic survey method. Methodology: W artykule wykorzystano analizę porównawczo-opisową wybranych elementów z aktów prawnych oraz przeglądu literatury przedmiotu. Odnosząc się w tym zakresie do wybranych elementów bezpieczeństwa wobec przeciwdziałania poważnym awariom przemysłowym, podjęto badania empiryczne, wykorzystując metodę sondażu diagnostycznego. Results: ratowniczego poprzez ujęcie zapisu zadaniowego określającego sposób zwalczania poważnej awarii w przypadku wystąpienia zdarzenia w zakładzie dużego ryzyka. Powyższe uwarunkowania organizacyjno-zadaniowe wskazują co najmniej na potrzebę stworzenia w odpowiedniej formie wytycznych jako rozwiązania alternatywnego w przypadku, gdyby wprowadzenie postulowanych zmian legislacyjnych z różnych względów było niemożliwe. Wskazano również, że zasadne jest wdrożenie w zakładzie poradnika jednolitych „zasad podejmowanych czynności ratowniczych podczas poważnych awarii” tworzonych w oparciu o wymagania ogólne zawarte w przepisie wykonawczym w sprawie opracowania planów operacyjno-ratowniczych. Conclusions: The article points out the need to amend national implementing legislation on the development of an external emergency plan by including a task statement on how to deal with a major accident in the event of an accident at an upper-tier establishment. At the very least, the above organisational and task-related considerations point to the need to create guidelines in an appropriate form as an alternative solution in the event that the proposed legislative changes are not possible for various reasons. It is also advisable for the operators of an establishment to introduce, in the form of a guide, uniform “principles for rescue operations during major accidents”, based on the general requirements contained in the implementing regulation on the development of emergency plans. Keywords: State Fire Service, major accident, emergency plan, operator of a high risk establishment