Hazardous material storage in the UK can be affected by several health, safety and major-hazard requirements, depending on the substances, quantities and activities involved. In Great Britain, key frameworks include COSHH, DSEAR and COMAH, supported by HSE guidance such as HSG51, HSG71 and HSG140. British Standards including BS EN 14470 may also apply to particular types of safety storage cabinet.
The requirements that apply to a particular site depend on the hazards of the substances, the quantities present, how they are stored or used and the activities taking place around them.
This page focuses primarily on requirements applying in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has separate health and safety legislation in several of these areas, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI).
There is no single regulation covering every form of hazardous material storage. Different legal duties and guidance can apply depending on whether the main risk is exposure to health, fire and explosion, major accidents, chemical warehousing, flammable-liquid storage or another specific hazard.
Important requirements and guidance include:
Not every item listed above will apply to every facility. The correct requirements should be identified through the site’s risk assessments and the substances and activities involved.
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, commonly known as COSHH, require employers to assess and control risks to health arising from substances hazardous to health.
A COSHH assessment should consider the health and safety risks arising from the use, handling, storage and disposal of hazardous substances.
Employers may need to:
Safety Data Sheets provide important information about chemical hazards, handling, storage and emergency measures, but a Safety Data Sheet is not itself a COSHH risk assessment.
Health and Safety Executive – COSHH
The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002, known as DSEAR, require employers to assess and control risks from fires, explosions and similar events caused by dangerous substances in the workplace.
DSEAR can apply to workplaces that manufacture, store, process or use dangerous substances.
Depending on the risks involved, employers may need to consider:
The appropriate measures depend on the dangerous substances, potential release scenarios, quantities and activities at the workplace.
HSE – DSEAR Approved Code of Practice and guidance (L138)
The term ATEX is commonly used when discussing potentially explosive atmospheres and equipment used within hazardous areas.
For workplaces in Great Britain, the principal employer duties for controlling dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres are contained in DSEAR.
Where explosive atmospheres may occur, the risk assessment may need to identify and classify hazardous areas and ensure equipment used within those areas is appropriate for the potential explosive atmosphere.
Product requirements for equipment intended for potentially explosive atmospheres are separate from the employer’s workplace duties under DSEAR.
The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 apply to establishments where specified dangerous substances are present at or above the qualifying quantities set out in the Regulations. COMAH establishes lower-tier and upper-tier establishments, with additional duties applying at upper-tier sites. Its purpose is to prevent major accidents and limit their consequences for people and the environment.
Simply storing hazardous chemicals does not automatically make a facility a COMAH establishment.
COMAH status depends on the dangerous substances present or likely to be present, their classifications, quantities and the calculation rules contained within the Regulations.
Operators within scope have duties relating to major-accident prevention, and upper-tier establishments are subject to additional requirements including safety reports and emergency planning.
HSE – A guide to the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 2015 (L111)
HSG51, The storage of flammable liquids in containers, is HSE guidance for organisations responsible for storing flammable liquids in workplace containers of up to 1,000 litres capacity.
It explains fire and explosion hazards associated with flammable liquids and provides guidance on measures for controlling those risks.
Topics include:
HSG51 supplements the requirements and guidance associated with DSEAR rather than replacing the employer’s DSEAR risk assessment.
HSE – HSG51: The storage of flammable liquids in containers
HSG71, Chemical warehousing: The storage of packaged dangerous substances, is HSE guidance for people responsible for storing packaged dangerous substances, regardless of the size of the storage facility.
It is particularly relevant to:
The guidance covers issues including hazard identification, risk assessment, segregation, storage design, hazardous-area classification, emergency arrangements, employee training and the review of storage controls.
HSE – HSG71: Chemical warehousing
HSG140, Safe use and handling of flammable liquids, provides HSE guidance on controlling fire and explosion risks associated with the use and handling of flammable liquids.
It applies to general work activities involving flammable liquids and complements HSG51, which focuses specifically on storage in containers.
Where a site both stores and uses flammable liquids, HSG51 and HSG140 may therefore need to be considered together alongside DSEAR.
HSE – HSG140: Safe use and handling of flammable liquids
BS EN 14470-1 is a product standard for fire safety storage cabinets used for flammable liquids.
The current UK edition is BS EN 14470-1:2023.
It specifies construction, performance and fire-testing requirements for qualifying cabinets with a total internal volume of no more than 2 m³.
The standard does not apply to brick enclosures or walk-in storage rooms, so larger fire-rated chemical stores should not automatically be described as BS EN 14470-1 compliant.
BS EN 14470-2 is the corresponding product standard for fire safety cabinets used to store pressurised gas cylinders.
The current UK edition is BS EN 14470-2:2006.
It applies to qualifying safety cabinets designed for pressurised gas cylinders with a combined cylinder volume not exceeding 220 litres.
The standard includes requirements relating to fire resistance, ventilation, cylinder restraint, gas pipelines, electrical cables where applicable, marking and manufacturer information.
It should not automatically be applied to external gas cylinder cages, walk-in gas stores or other installations that fall outside its scope.
There is no single standalone UK regulation governing every lithium-ion battery storage application. Depending on the installation, requirements can arise under health and safety, electrical, fire, planning and environmental legislation.
For Battery Energy Storage Systems, relevant Great Britain legislation can include DSEAR, the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
Battery storage risk assessments may need to consider thermal runaway, fire propagation, off-gassing, ventilation, electrical faults, charging, temperature management, damaged batteries, fire detection and emergency response.
Grid-scale BESS is also supported by government and National Fire Chiefs Council guidance, while standards such as BS EN IEC 62485-5:2021 address stationary lithium-ion battery installations.
Separate environmental requirements apply to waste batteries. In England, the Environment Agency published updated appropriate-measures guidance for permitted waste-battery facilities in 2026.
Health and Safety Executive – Battery Energy Storage Systems
The Dangerous Goods in Harbour Areas Regulations 2016, commonly known as DGHAR, contain specific safety requirements for dangerous goods within harbour areas in Great Britain. They address risks associated with dangerous goods moving through ports and include requirements relating to notification, movement, emergency planning and incidents involving dangerous goods.
DGHAR is therefore relevant to organisations involved in the movement, handling, loading or unloading of dangerous goods in harbour areas, but it is not a general chemical-storage regulation applying to every workplace.
The Regulations apply to harbour areas in Great Britain and do not extend to Northern Ireland.
Dangerous Goods in Harbour Areas Regulations 2016
Not always. Northern Ireland has separate health and safety legislation in several areas, although many of the underlying safety principles are similar.
Examples include:
These requirements are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland rather than HSE Great Britain.
Organisations operating in Northern Ireland should therefore check the applicable HSENI requirements rather than assuming that a Great Britain statutory instrument applies unchanged.
There is no single answer that applies to every hazardous material store. The applicable requirements depend on the substances, their hazard classifications, quantities, container types, storage location, workplace activities and possible accident scenarios.
A site may need to consider several requirements together. For example, a flammable liquid could create health risks addressed under COSHH while also creating fire and explosion risks addressed under DSEAR and HSG51.
Larger inventories may additionally bring a site within COMAH, while specialist environments such as harbour areas can introduce further requirements.
Chemstore designs and supplies hazardous material storage solutions for applications ranging from individual safety cabinets to larger chemical stores, fire-rated storage facilities, gas cylinder storage and bespoke warehouse-scale installations.
The appropriate storage solution should be selected according to the substances, quantities, operational requirements and findings of the site’s risk assessments.
A storage product can form part of a site’s risk-control measures but does not replace the employer or operator’s legal duties.
If you need help assessing a hazardous material storage requirement, contact Chemstore.
This page provides general information about hazardous material storage requirements and guidance in the UK. It does not replace legislation, HSE or HSENI guidance, British Standards, Safety Data Sheets, a workplace risk assessment or advice from a competent person.
The requirements applicable to an individual facility should always be established from its location, substances, quantities, activities and site-specific risks.
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