In 1794, at the Château de Grenelle, in what is now the Vaugirard district of Paris, 2,000 workers crammed into a powder mill with an overheated atmosphere produced black powder without any protective measures. On August 31, between 30 and 150 tons exploded in the powder store. It was the deadliest industrial accident in France. A thousand victims were to be deplored among the workers and local residents. Many buildings and trees were destroyed in the surrounding area and the force of the explosion was south africa telegram data such that it caused damage to the stained glass windows of almost all the churches in Paris.
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This disaster triggered an awareness of the risks and nuisances that could be generated by human activity. In 1806, an order from the Paris Police Prefect required operators of dangerous or unsanitary installations to declare their activity. Four years later, an imperial decree extended this obligation to the whole of France. This was the origin of the French regulation on Installations Classified for the Protection of the Environment (ICPE), which provides in particular:
The need for formal authorization by the administration or, for installations with less impact, a prior declaration to the administration;
Technical rules to avoid accidents and pollution, which are either set at the national level by ministerial decree or at the local level by the prefect;
In the case of installations subject to authorization, a communication on the planned installation in neighboring municipalities, so that everyone can present their observations.