Systematic method of risk assessment in industrial processes

Mankind has passed over a significant historical frontier, namely the expansion of technological processes where hazardous substances are potential threats for employees, the public, the environment and property and, therefore, it is there is an inevitable need to pay increased attention to the occurrence of industrial accidents and, mainly, their prevention. The area of safety of technical and technological systems is very closely connected, not only with the reliability of the processes but it has also wider linkages with regard to the technical, social, legal and other aspects. There exist several systematic approaches, methods and techniques to assess industrial processes and risks linked to these processes on the European Union level and also on the national level of each member state. We can mention some basic systematic approaches - MOSAR, CPQRA, ARAMIS, PRA (PSA) widely used in this area. However, according to analyst's needs, they usually miss the structured and systematic approach of how to complete the risk assessment in steps and what the content of each of these steps is. The main focus of this paper is to discuss the theoretical aspects of risk assessment in industrial processes and to show the possible approach of a structured and systematic method with support of logical diagrams to fulfil all tasks concerning the industrial accident assessment. Last but not least we present the research activities of the Department of Crisis Management, University of Zilina in Zilina, Slovakia.