Custom software for Seveso obligations
The Besluit risico's zware ongevallen 2015 (Decree on Major Accident Risks 2015) was withdrawn on 1 January 2024. Its obligations have not disappeared but have moved into the regulations under the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet), and the term is now Seveso establishment. That sounds like a change of name. The consequence is greater: your references, procedures and document control point to a decree that no longer exists.
What changed in 2024
The content of the old decree has been absorbed into the general administrative orders under the Environment and Planning Act. The Besluit activiteiten leefomgeving (Decree on Activities in the Living Environment) designates businesses as Seveso establishments based on the nature and quantity of hazardous substances they hold. The terms Brzo and Brzo establishment no longer apply. If you have not updated your documents, they still refer to a withdrawn decree.
The classification has two tiers. Lower-tier establishments submit a notification and maintain a major accident prevention policy. Upper-tier establishments do the same and also prepare a safety report. The difference lies in the quantities, which is precisely why it is not a fixed fact: your classification follows from what can be present at any given time.
This is where the real software problem lies. The substance inventory lives in a spreadsheet that someone updates once a year, while the actual stock changes daily. An additional tank, a different supplier or temporary storage during a stop can push the total over a threshold without anyone noticing. If you only calculate at the annual update, you discover it after the fact.
This page is about your own inventory and management system. The process with the regulators, where the Labour Inspectorate, the safety region and the environmental service inspect together and the summary is made public, is covered under software for Seveso inspection and findings.
How we build this
The substance inventory with the threshold check is the foundation. Policy, controls and reporting are built on top of it, not alongside it.
Substances with their classification and their maximum quantity present per storage point. As long as this is a spreadsheet, the classification is an assumption.
The threshold check is a calculation across categories. It should run automatically, so that a change in stock is immediately visible in the outcome.
A prevention policy that does not refer to concrete scenarios cannot be assessed. We record the relationship between scenario, measure and responsible person.
A management system is assessed on how it functions, not merely on whether it exists. Exercises, inspections, deviations and follow-up therefore belong in the same register.
What the software actually does
The inventory with the threshold check underpins everything. What else you need depends on your classification and on how much is already documented.
Substance inventory per storage point
Which substance, which classification, which maximum quantity and where. This is the data your entire position rests on, and it is usually held today in a file on a network drive.
Threshold check that keeps running
The summation across categories updates automatically with the inventory. A new tank or temporary storage shows you straight away what it does to your classification.
Scenarios with their measures
Each scenario with the measures that control it and the person responsible for it. A measure without a scenario cannot be assessed, and a scenario without a measure is a finding.
Operation of the management system
Exercises, inspections, certifications and internal audits with their outcomes. Supervisors look at how the system works, and that shows in records rather than in a handbook.
Deviations with cause and follow-up
Near misses and findings with their cause, measure and due date. Recurrence of the same cause is the pattern an inspection looks for.
Updates monitored
Notifications, policy, safety report and internal emergency plans each have their own review points. These are easily overlooked, and a change to the installation brings them forward.
Who we build for
The obligation affects a wide range of businesses. Four situations where this applies.
Chemicals and process industry
Many substances, many scenarios and regular changes to the installation. See also chemical industry software and, where explosion risk is involved, ATEX software.
Storage and distribution of hazardous substances
Stock moves fastest here, and the threshold check is worth the most. A full warehouse in peak season looks different from an annual average.
Businesses just below the threshold
The question is then not how you comply but whether you fall under it at all. A substantiated and up-to-date calculation answers exactly that question.
Consultants and safety specialists
You produce reports that go out of date from the moment they are delivered. An environment in which the client maintains the inventory themselves changes that work fundamentally.
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Threshold values, substance classifications and references to regulations change. All of it should be configurable and kept with its history, because you also need to be able to account for an earlier situation.
Why Appfront
The inventory is the source, not the report
We build the substance list as a living record. A spreadsheet updated once a year turns your classification into an assumption.
The threshold check should keep running
We let the summation run continuously. For temporary storage you want to know that on the day itself, not at the next update.
Supervisors assess how the system works
We build records of exercises, inspections and follow-up in the same environment as the policy, because that is what is asked for.
Your documents refer to an outdated decision
We maintain references to regulations centrally, so that a change in legislation does not turn into a search-and-replace across a hundred documents.
Security and privacy
A substance inventory with scenarios describes precisely where and how things can go wrong at your site. That is information you want to keep strictly confidential. We set access by role and by location, give an external adviser only their own scope, and log every access.
For this subject, history matters more than in almost any other. After an incident or an inspection, the question concerns the situation on a particular day: which quantities were present, which measures applied, and who was responsible. We therefore record every change to a substance, a quantity or a measure with the time and the person responsible, and make an amendment visible alongside the old value rather than overwriting it. How we handle security ourselves is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside reach us via our vulnerability disclosure policy.
Frequently asked questions about Seveso and the former Brzo
No. The Besluit risico's zware ongevallen 2015 was withdrawn on 1 January 2024, when the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) came into force. The obligations have passed to the regulations under that Act, including the Besluit activiteiten leefomgeving. The term now used is Seveso establishment. Many companies still say Brzo in everyday speech, which is fine, but your documents are better off referring to the rules currently in force.
The difference lies in the quantities of hazardous substances present. Both categories submit a notification and maintain a major accident prevention policy. An upper-tier establishment also has to prepare a safety report. Which category applies to you follows from the aggregation rules; have a safety specialist verify that outcome.
Yes, and that is a real risk. The classification depends on what could be present, not on what is typically held. An extra tank, a different supplier or temporary storage during a shutdown can push the aggregate over a threshold. Anyone who only calculates once a year discovers such a shift only afterwards.
The software performs the calculation and shows the outcome; responsibility for the classification remains with you and your safety specialist. That distinction matters. What we build keeps the calculation current and substantiated, so that the conversation is about the outcome rather than the input.
The Seveso app concerns the emergency plan and the safety rounds on site. This page concerns the layer above that: the inventory, the classification and the management system. Releasing work on an installation is handled separately, in the work permit app.
No. Drawing up a safety report is specialist work with its own requirements for content and justification. What we build keeps current the data on which that report rests, and shows when a change gives reason to revise it.
On how the system works, not on whether it exists. A handbook in which everything is well described, while no exercises are recorded and findings have not been followed up, is a poorer outcome than a concise system that demonstrably operates. That is why, with us, records sit in the same environment as the policy.
That depends on the number of substances and storage points, your classification and how much is already documented. The inventory with the threshold check is usually quick to put to use and immediately answers the question of where you stand; scenarios and controls grow from there. We give a substantiated estimate after the initial exploration.
Do you know whether your classification still holds?
Take the busiest week of last year and calculate the total across your substances for that week. If you don't have that figure to hand, your layout is an assumption. We build this as a standalone application and as part of a broader custom software project.