It is not possible to determine from the information supplied whether the area referred to in the first line of the question constitutes a place of work.
If a site is subject to the European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2000, S.I. No. 476 of 2000, and, on account of its inventory, constitutes an "upper-tier" establishment then the following duties apply by virtue of Regulation 19. The operator shall make its safety report available to any member of the public who requests it. The information to be considered in a safety report is set out in the fourth schedule to the regulations and includes the identification and analysis of accidental risks. The company shall inform persons who are likely to be habitually in the specified area of the safety measures and the correct behaviour to be adopted in the event of a major accident. This information is also available to any member of the public upon request. The extent of the specified area is determined by the operator with the agreement of the HSA or in the case of non-agreement, by the HSA alone. In the case of "lower-tier" sites, the operator has no obligation to produce a safety report and no obligation to provide information that would be contained in such a report.
The difference between upper and lower tier is based on the levels of dangerous substances held at the establishment. The relevant quantities of dangerous substances, which determine an establishment to be upper — the most hazardous — or lower tier, are set out in Annex 1 to Council Directive 96/82/EC. The regulations do not place any other duty on the operator to make information on risk assessment available to neighbours unless that neighbour is also an establishment operator subject to the regulations, and the possibility of a "knock-on" effect has been identified by the HSA as provided for in Regulation 9.
Any advice provided by the HSA to a planning authority pursuant to Regulation 29 is provided on the basis that such information will be placed in the public sphere in accordance with normal planning practice. Any disclosure of information by the HSA related to the implementation of the European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations is subject to either the Freedom of Information Act or the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations in accordance with Regulation 36.
Risk assessment is required for workplaces outside the scope of the European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2000. However such assessment is in respect of employee protection and there is no obligation on employers to make such assessments available to persons other than their employees or others who may be at work on the employers site. The 1989 Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act and associated regulations do not provide right of access for non-employees to such risk assessments.
