Lecture 2.4 Risk in the Chemical Industry

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Do curso por Universiteit Leiden

Risk in Modern Society

42 classificações

Universiteit Leiden

Risk in Modern Society

42 classificações

Risk has become one of the defining features of modern society. Almost daily, we are preoccupied with assessing, discussing, or preventing a wide variety of risks. It is a cornerstone notion for businesses and organizations, but also for nation states and their many levels of government. And even for individuals, risk and the avoidance or embracing thereof, is a key theme. The course Risk in Modern Society sheds light on the broad concept of risk. In five distinctive weeks, this course closely examines various types of safety and security risks, and how these are perceived and dealt with in a wide array of professional and academic fields, ranging from criminology, counter-terrorism and cyber security, to philosophy, safety and medical science. Developed in collaboration with scholars from three universities (Leiden, Delft and Erasmus), this course will search for answers to questions such as: “what is risk?”, “how do we study and deal with risk?”, “does ‘perceived risk’ correspond to 'real' risk?”, and “how should we deal with societal perceptions of risk, safety and security?

Na lição

Managing Risk

In this module, we will take a closer look at risk management, one of the most dominant approaches to dealing with risk in modern society. You will then be presented with two specific risks which illustrate how this approach is used in practice: the risk of natural hazards, and risks in the chemical industry. In the last video of this week, we will discuss some of the strengths and weaknesses of the risk management approach.

Lecture 2.4 Risk in the Chemical Industry3:31

Lecture 2.5 Risk in the Chemical Industry / Part II7:13

Conheça os instrutores

Marieke Liem
Dr.
Institute Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University
Bibi van den Berg
Prof. dr.
Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University
Edwin Bakker
Prof. dr.
Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University
Jim van Steenbergen
Dr.
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) & Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC)
Sabine Roeser
Prof. dr.
Ethics/ Philosophy of technology section, TU Delft
Margreet Vos
Prof. dr.
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus MC
Genserik Reniers
Prof. dr. ir.
Safety and Security Science Section, TU Delft
Pieter van Gelder
Prof. dr. ir.
Safety and Security Science section, TU Delft

Welcome. My name is Genserik Reniers,

and I'm a professor at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands,

as well as at the University of Antwerp and at the KU Leuven in Belgium.

My research is situated within the field of chemical safety and security.

In this module, we're going to talk about risks in the chemical industry.

Chemical disasters lead to anxiety,

societal disruption, and fear.

People are scared by chemical accidents because

a potentially devastating human consequences,

such as suffering related to intoxication,

burns, inhalation of carcinogenic agents,

and what have you.

Many of you may know the oil platform disaster of Deepwater Horizon in 2010.

An estimated number of 4.9 million barrels of oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.

It was the largest marine environmental disaster ever in the United States.

Eleven people died in that accident and the environmental damage was truly huge.

The worst disaster ever that took place in the chemical industry, however,

happened in 1984 in Bhopal,

a city located in the middle of India.

This accident was caused by a toxic cloud of gas and

led to some 4000 immediate fatalities.

In total, the death toll is now estimated to have risen to a number as high as 20,000.

However, compared with other causes of death,

fatalities due to chemical disasters are very rare.

In fact, they are actually lower than many other fatality risks.

Research indicates that worldwide since 1917 until now,

some 25,000 fatalities have occurred in chemical disasters.

Conversely, if taking all industrial sectors in the world into consideration,

some 25,000 fatalities occurred due to occupational accidents every month.

And the dreadfulness of chemical accidents is mainly related with the impact of

the consequences of chemical risk and

the fact that the number of people may die simultaneously.

This fear perception is further fed by chemical accidents and spills,

where national and international broadcasting

shows men in white suits with gas masks and footage alike.

However, the perception should also be fed by the fact that for every disaster,

many disasters have been averted in the chemical industry,

due to regulation, training, learning from accidents,

the right preventive and/or mitigation measures and sometimes also thanks to luck.

Nonetheless, when a major accident occurs,

where chemical substances are involved,

society will rightfully ask for thorough investigations and

measures such as a similar accident will never happen again.

Moreover, trust from civilians and politicians in

activities involving hazardous materials decreases.

The so-called license to operate is questioned.

A phrase that is sometimes hurts is a trust comes

by foot and races away with the speed of a sports car.

This is very true in the chemical industry.

Therefore, it is crucial to understand perception and its influence on decision-making.

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