Environmental accidents with hazardous materials have been object of concern in such a way on the partof the governments, as on the part of the communities, these each time more conscientious of theimportance of the environmental questions. Occurrences as Seveso (Italy, 1976), Mexico City (Mexico,1984), Bhopal (India, 1984) and Exxon Valdez (Alaska, 1989), among others, had unchained a series ofaction and programs to the prevention of major accidents, as well as for the preparation of the communitiesto respond the emergencies. In Brazil, even so the environmental questions have been of particularinterest in the last years, in special in the moving one to the advances gotten in the legal field, not if itmakes use of one specific politics to the management of the environmental risks. The present paper presents the main international programs related to the risk management associates to the environmentalaccidents, besides presenting a critical analysis of the subject in Brazil.
