Risk Assessment for Hazardous Installations

Recognising the difficulties involved in making an overall assessment of the acceptability of the risks associated with large complex installations this specially commissioned study examines the techniques and criteria used to assess the significance of risk in quantitative terms. It compares how these techniques are used in practice in the nuclear industry with the way they are used in those parts of the process industry that can be classified as having a major hazard potential. The current practices employed in leading European countries in both the nuclear and processing industries are analysed in depth. The report concludes by identifying a number of developments that are required for the optimum exploitation of quantitative techniques and how the comprehensive assessment of risk can be made more logical and consistent, thus simplifying the presentation of the results of such assessments.