The development of an audit technique to assess the quality of safety barrier management.

This paper describes the development of a management model to control barriers devised to prevent major hazard scenarios. Additionally, an audit technique is explained that assesses the quality of such a management system. The final purpose of the audit technique is to quantify those aspects of the management system that have a direct impact on the reliability and effectiveness of the barriers and, hence, the probability of the scenarios involved.

Quantifying the influence of safety management on the reliability of safety barriers.

A methodology is described that enables to use safety management audit assessments and safety culture questionnaire results for estimating the reductions in the reliability of safety barriers in major hazard plants. The critical issue is the establishment of weight factors in combination with the anchoring of "good" safety management. A method is proposed to derive weight factors from statistical accident analysis in combination with a statistical analysis of safety management assessments at a representative sample of major hazard industries.

Risk terminology--a platform for common understanding and better communication.

The sciences analyzing and describing risks are relatively new and developing, and the associated terminologies are developing as well. This has led to ambiguity in the use of terms, both between different risk sciences and between the different parties involved in risk debates. Only recently, major vocabularies have been compiled by authoritative agencies.

Assessment of technologies for disposing explosive waste.

The environmental impact and safety aspects are assessed for six different techniques for disposing decommissioned ammunition. These are open burning and open detonation (OD), closed detonation (CD), fluidised bed combustion (FBC), rotary kiln (RK) Incineration, and Mobile furnace (MF) Incineration. The assessment is performed in the form of a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA).

Hazard analysis of technologies for disposing explosive waste.

Hazards are identified for six different techniques for disposing decommissioned ammunition. Use has been made of functional modelling as a basis for hazard identification. Risk levels are estimated based on general accident rates in the chemical industry.