Environmental events
An environmental event is where harm has been or is likely to have been caused by an incident or activity that is within our regulatory remit. We receive notifications about these from authorisation holders and members of the public.
If you have any concerns over environmental incidents or pollution please contact us.
We categorise environmental events into four categories. Category 1 is the most serious, and Category 4 is where we have been unable to find evidence of environmental harm.
Our Environmental events categorisation includes more information on what an environmental event is and how we categorise environmental events. This does not include the environmental events categorisation for radioactive substances, which are classified differently.
A category 1 or 2 environmental event will result in an Unacceptable environmental performance rating, except where in SEPA’s opinion, there are exceptional, unforeseen circumstances not due to the actions of the authorisation holder.