Assessment of the uncertainties in risk analysis of chemical industry

The EU benchmark project ASSURANCE (Assessment of uncertainties in risk analysis of chemical establishments) was completed in October, 2001. The objectives of the project were to assess the state of risk analysis in the European Union and to improve the quality of risk analysis within the chemical industry. Seven European institutions participated in the project. All of them performed, independently, a qualitative and quantitative risk analysis of the same ammonia storage plant. After the study some detailed calculations were carried out to assess the differences in results of the participants. Significant variation was seen especially in the quantitative risk analysis.