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Natech refers to a conjoint natural and technological hazard or accident. This paper is concerned with Natechs involving hazards arising from the handling, processing and/or storage of hazardous materials, as well as the transportation, of oil and gas by pipeline. Risk management of chemical accident hazards has generally been carried out using industrial risk management regulations and practices, engineering safety codes and standards, environmental regulations, and land use planning. However, there is evidence that existing regulations and practices may not be sufficient if the particular conditions associated with Natechs have not been factored in. Awareness of the need to better address Natech risk has been on the rise; nevertheless, this is not reflected sufficiently in the laws and regulations of individual countries, and a general framework for the governance of Natech risk is lacking. This paper provides an overview of Natechs, their characteristics, and the problems associated with Natech risk management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of biogas is positioned as energy which can not only generate a source of renewable energy but also which recycles waste. In the context of sustainable development, the place of biogas is therefore essential. Several questions about safety issues, the harmonization of the regulations and the need to develop standards are discussed in this paper, based on the results of a workshop on biogas safety and regulation organized in November 2010 and the activities of the European Working Group on Biogas Safety and Regulation created after the workshop. The risks corresponding to the biogas production and use have been framed using iNTeg-Risk method and tools. Several deficits for risk management have been identified and a strategy to improve risk management proposed by the working group is presented at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety parameters of flammable substances measured by standard procedures are typically adopted for the definition of inherent safe indexes, even if industrial gas, vapour or dust explosions are of concern. However, it is well known that real accidental explosive phenomena are more complex than observed in lab-scale, controlled system. Furthermore, much more severe consequences can be experienced for particular equipment design or fluid-dynamic conditions. This paper proposes new inherent safety indexes for explosion based on recent advancement in combustion-safety and on well known methodologies for consequence analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU project: Early Recognition, Monitoring and Integrated Management of Emerging, New Technology Related, Risks - iNTeg-Risk, has developed a pragmatic and unusual approach for an integrated emerging risk management framework. The main objective was to develop a series of specific innovative solutions by applying good risk management principles and elaborate more generic and integrated solutions which all together enable us to "better understand how to manage emerging risk in a very uncertain and complex world". The paper provides an overview of the different results and tools achieved in iNTeg-Risk project, highlighting some very important achievements regarding emerging risks in the area of process safety such as LNG regasification, remote operations, NaTech events, among others. In order to ensure sustainability of the iNTeg-Risk results, the European Emerging Risk Radar (E2R2) is an initiative envisaged as one of the potential ways by focusing on early recognition, monitoring and management of emerging risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban infrastructure is essential for the development of modern societies: its assessment and risk-management must be undertaken within the framework of decisions of public-interest. The fact that infrastructure is made up of networks imposes the need for a systemic approach rather than one that emphasizes individual elements. This paper proposes a hierarchical description of infrastructure systems at different levels of resolution, allowing for effective risk-assessment through the use of simpliied representations of the network for the assessment of failure probability and consequences. Finally, the approach to risk-management is undertaken by means of theory of incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]