Environmental Damage/Liability
If your activities could cause environmental damage you will be committing an offence if you do not: Take all possible steps to prevent damage, report details of the risk to the enforcing body if the threat remains. For example, if you become aware of poorly maintained storage equipment that is at risk of leaking, or is already leaking, and could cause environmental damage, you must take action to stop environmental damage. If your action does not succeed in reducing the risk, you must report it to your environmental regulator.
It is an offence if you do not report environmental damage or the threat of environmental damage. It is also an offence if you do not take action to prevent further damage.
People who may be affected by possible damage may also report risk to the enforcing body.
Your enforcing body may require you to take necessary action to prevent environmental damage. If you do not comply you will be committing an offence.
In Northern Ireland the NIEA will issue you with a prevention notice describing the work you need to carry out.
The enforcing body can do the prevention work themselves and charge you for this if:
- the threat of damage is considered an emergency
- you do not comply with a prevention notice in Northern Ireland
- you do not comply with a requirement to prevent further damage in Scotland.