General approach to risk management in the process industries

Throughout its history, mankind has had to contend with natural hazards and those resulting from its activities, in order to survive and develop. Every action and every initiative involves a degree of risk and uncertainty. For all beings, risk is consubstantial with existence.

In the recent past, the industrialized countries have achieved a high level of development thanks to the rapid and significant evolution of science and technology. This has enabled us to achieve unprecedented longevity and health standards, to considerably improve our standard of living and well-being, and to meet and exceed our food requirements despite demographic growth.

Although a source of waste, this essentially material "progress" was generally accepted on the presupposition that it should be accompanied by social and moral progress. It is now the subject of doubt and discussion. It is a source of questioning, even concern, about the disadvantages and nuisances associated with the development resulting from this increase in knowledge and improvement in techniques.

Every industrial activity involves risks. These give rise to questions, expectations and demands on the part of both the public and the company's stakeholders. This means that any industrial company whose activities entail risks and drawbacks must provide answers to these questions:

• first and foremost, it must show that the initiative or project envisaged (new product, new activity), is part of a context of improvement, i.e. the search for a "good", a "better", a "plus" and that the expected "benefits" are indeed able to compensate for the "disadvantages" that may result;

• it is then necessary to show that, within the framework of current knowledge and techniques, the risks associated with the activity envisaged (or with the use of the product) have been correctly identified and that the measures to ensure their control have been defined and implemented.

On the basis of a certain number of scientific and technical elements, we can form a "technical" picture that meets the "objective" criteria of the risk associated with an activity. However, the notion of risk also has a subjective component linked to the socio-cultural components of "time and place". This "perceived risk", the result of individual and collective assessments, is a "social" construct.

The purpose of this document is to present the provisions generally adopted in process industries for overall risk management. The first part presents the generic elements of the general approach to risk management in an industrial context. In the second part, the concepts mentioned above will be illustrated by the...