Vansina, Peter and Goethals, Michiel

Chemical risks directorate, Federal Ministry of Employment and Labour, Belgium

The second version of the Metatechnical Evaluation System

Introduction

This paper discusses the development of the second version of the Metatechnical Evaluation System or briefly M.E.S.  M.E.S. is an inspection tool used by the Chemical risks directorate, an inspection body of the Belgian Ministry of Employment and Labour, to evaluate the safety management systems of the Belgian Seveso companies.  The first version of M.E.S. was developed in 1995 and 1996.  It has been systematically applied in all upper tier Belgian Seveso companies between June 1997 en January 2000.  In total, the first version of M.E.S. was applied in 68 companies.  The completion of a first “auditing tour” in all upper tier Seveso companies was an opportunity to review the system. At present a new, thoroughly reviewed version of M.E.S. is being tested.  The Chemical risks directorate hopes to finalise the second version of M.E.S. by the end of 2001.

In this paper, the two essential features of the new system are highlighted: the questioning technique and the structure of the questionnaire. 

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