Quantifying the human contribution to losses in the chemical industry

Accidents in the chemical industry may have serious effects on the well-being of a number of people, whether in terms of life or limb or in economic terms. Evidence supports the view that the human element may make a significant contribution to such losses but no attempts have been made to clarify the potential involvement of such factors in process safety. Thus no current risk assessment technique attempts to take into account the entire range of human factors which may influence losses. The development of a preliminary technique for this purpose is described, and its future development and potential applications discussed.