ABSTRACT
A trend towards a growing number of emergency situations at industrial enterprises has been recently traced throughout the world. The main reasons of such phenomenon are: a comprehensive use of highly dangerous technologies and materials; large-scale violations of the operational rules and norms; and an inadmissibly high wear-and-tear of the main production funds in economic branches with extra risk. The world experience is indicative of a high degree of danger related with exploiting the natural-gas fields with a high content of sulfur compounds. The occurrence of emergency situations in the mentioned fields is accompanied by development of acute and sub-acute toxic effects in the workers and population. It necessitated, recently, an elaboration of a concept of a relative safety, in view of an unfavorable impact produced by chemical substances in emergencies, and an elaboration of methods applicable to the evaluation of emergency regulations.
