Last minute risk assessment (LMRA) is a well-known work method to support employees’ risk perception. However, little is known about the effectiveness of LMRA in providing this support. Here, we describe an eye-tracking experiment with which we attempted to gain more insight into the relationship between LMRA and risk perception and to assess the difference between generic and specific supporting questions. Employees from an international energy production and desalination company participated in this experiment by assessing photographs portraying a (staged) work situation and deciding whether it was safe enough to continue activities and which risk factors were present or absent. The results show a consistent interaction effect over several parameters between work experience and the type of supporting questions, indicating that generic and specific supporting questions should be considered complimentary to each other. Furthermore, the results revealed several other challenges concerning real-world application of the LMRA.

The aim of this study was to analyze whether, and if so, in what way risks would influence the design, costs and routing of CO₂ pipelines. This article assesses locational and societal risks of CO₂ pipeline transport and analyses whether rerouting or implementing additional risk mitigation measures is the most cost-effective option. The models EFFECTS and RISKCURVES are used to estimate the dispersion and risk, respectively. The pipeline routes are optimized by using the least cost path function in ArcGIS. This article evaluates three case studies in the Netherlands. The results show that pipelines transporting dense phase CO₂ (8-17MPa) with a minimal amount of risk mitigation measures already meet the 10^-6 locational risk required in the Netherlands. 10^-6 locational risks of 135m are calculated for intermediate pumping stations, handling 450kg CO₂/s (about 14Mt CO₂/year). In all the cases, pumping stations could be located along the pipeline route without any problem.For the cases studied transporting gaseous CO₂ (1.5-3MPa) leads to larger 10^-6 locational risk distances than transporting dense phase CO₂. This is caused by the large momentum behind a dense phase CO₂ release, leading to smaller but higher jet and to a higher mixing rate with the surrounding air than for a gaseous CO₂ release. Based on our analysis, it can be concluded that dense phase CO₂ transport is safe if it is well organized. The risks are manageable and widely accepted under current legislation. In addition, risk mitigation measures, like marker tape and increased surveillance, are available which reduce the risk significantly and increase the costs only slightly. Pipeline routing for gaseous CO₂ transport appears more challenging in densely populated areas, because larger safety zones are attached to it.