An Environmental Analysis of the Impact of an Accidental Fire in Process Industries

The models to prevent accidents from occurring in process industry, or to minimize the harm if an accident does take place, always revolve around forecasting the likely accidents and their impacts. Based on the several effects of an accident on the environment, the approach used in this study involves a qualitative analysis by the Environmental Effects Analysis (EEA) combined to Quantitative Risk Assessment approach (QRA). In fact, the EEA, under its current formalism, emphasizes environmental effects in normal operations solely. It does not consider abnormal situations (accidental aspects). In order to overcome this lack, the authors propose an extension of the current formalism of the EEA through the inclusion of accidental events that may occur in each phase of the product's life cycle, where from the EEA-Accidental Aspect method. Impacts associated with abnormal situations are identified and assessed in accordance with risk assessment practices. Risk assessment can be both qualitative and quantitative. Nevertheless, whenever possible, we adopt a Quantitative Risk Assessment approach (QRA). The evaluation criteria used in the classical EEA, i.e. Environmental Priority Number (EPN), is redefined to take into account the impacts due to accidental aspects. By doing so, we establish an effective link between methods for assessing environmental impacts and approaches to risk management. The validation of the proposed methodology is made on a storage system with a high potential of fire risk.