Domino effects in chemical factories and clusters, risk in the eye of the beholder
An historical perspective and discussion
P.H.J.J. Swuste (Safety and Security Science)
K.L.L. van Nunen (Universiteit Antwerpen, Safety and Security Science)
G. L.L. Reniers (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Universiteit Antwerpen, Safety and Security Science)
N. Khakzad (Safety and Security Science, Toronto Metropolitan University)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Major accidents in Western countries, receiving a lot of media attention in the 1970s, are starting point for research into internal and external domino effects in the chemical and petrochemical sectors and clusters. Initially, these reports are published by government institutions and government-related research centers. With the upcoming quantitative risk analyses in the 1970 and 1980s, the so-called colored books, published in the Netherlands, play a prominent role in quantifying these domino effects. Since the mid-1990s, the second European Seveso Directive encourages scientific research on domino effects, shown in substantial growth of academic publications on the topic. Research in Western countries is dominated by risk assessments, probabilities, and failure mechanisms are calculated for the complex phenomenon of domino effects and its consequences. Previous works are closely related to political, official, and private decision-making.