An operational centre for managing major chemical industrial accidents.

The most important characteristic of major chemical accidents, from a societal perspective, is their tendency to produce off-site effects. The extent and severity of the accident may significantly affect the population and the environment of the adjacent areas. Following an accident event, effort should be made to limit such effects. Management decisions should be based on rational and quantitative information based on the site specific circumstances and the possible consequences. To produce such information we have developed an operational centre for managing large-scale industrial accidents. Its architecture involves an integrated framework of geographical information system (GIS) and RDBMS technology systems equipped with interactive communication capabilities. The operational centre was developed for Windows 98 platforms, for the region of Thriasion Pedion of West Attica, where the concentration of industrial activity and storage of toxic chemical is immense within areas of high population density. An appropriate case study is given in order to illuminate the use and necessity of the operational centre.

Statistical analysis of domino chemical accidents.

A set of chemical accidents is retrieved from the literature and classified with regard to the substance involved and whether domino effects are present. This set of accidents and each of the classes defined are statistically analyzed with respect to its severity and comparison is made between domino and non-domino accidents. The analysis reveals that each accident category shows characteristic patterns in terms of fatalities caused and domino effects likelihood. Moreover, chemical accidents severity frequencies are described by using a two-parameter, revised form of the Pareto probability density function. The range within which the values of the parameters lie is investigated using Bayesian inference.