Role of accumulation in safety and risks assessments

18 November 15

 

Ameco was asked by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (I&M) to examine what role accumulation currently plays in the ongoing safety and risk policies of I&M. The broad overview of how accumulation in safety and risks policies is included is currently lacking. This study focuses on this and on an exploration of options, where necessary, accumulation can be better incorporated into policy and decision making processes.

 

Accumulation  may involve concurrent exposure to sources that differ from each other in nature, such as air pollution and noise. However, it may also involve more related sources of exposure, such as the combined exposure of humans or ecosystems to different chemical substances at the same time. In the field of external security accumulation refers to exposure to possible effects from various industrial activities at a similar time in a certain area. Finally, accumulation can also be considered in combination with domino-effects; in case it involves a series of events that follow each other in causal effects. Think of an earthquake that causes a flood which then causes an incident in an industrial complex.