Safety, health and environment in small process plants -: Results from a European survey

The handling of safety, health, and environmental (SHE) issues in small process plants has been addressed in the European project named Small Plants-Assistance with Safety and Environment (SPASE). In this paper, results from a questionnaire to small process plants in five countries are presented. The response rate was low, and the greatest difference between countries was not found in the information obtained, but in the frequency of responses. Therefore, the results have to be interpreted with caution. The companies' attitude to SHE issues was positive, and most companies declared that they had adequate resources for the work with SHE related matters. The findings do not support the common view that problems with SHE issues are related to the size of the companies. The "average" small company in this study does not seem to have much problem with their SHE work. However, the small percentage of the companies that do have some problems represents a large number and may constitute an unacceptable risk. It is suggested that the societal strategies for improving SHE performance in small plants should not be so focused on the "average" companies, but more on the companies with problems. (C) 2000 National Safety Council and Elsevier Science Ltd.