Hazard studies: databases and weighting of values

Quantifying industrial risks involves assessing the probability and severity of dangerous phenomena such as fires and explosions.

Increasingly, probability assessment is based on the application of so-called probabilistic methodologies, which take into account numerous parameters including the frequency of feared events, the probability of safety barrier failure and the probability of ignition.

These various parameters can be quantified using data banks. The main advantage of this approach is that it is relatively simple to implement. However, one question remains: are the values reported in the databases representative of the case studied?

Consequently, in order to adapt the values derived from the banks to the case studied, the analyst often "weights" the values in an attempt to transcribe certain specificities of the case studied. In quantified risk analyses, the most frequently "weighted" parameter is undoubtedly the frequency of pipe leaks.