Territorial vulnerability analysis: the Environmental Risk Management Systems

This is the third of three papers presented by the Politecnico di Milano. The papers are focused on some aspects of the European research project QUATER ("QUARTER" TERritorial QUAlity, territorial risk management systems of municipality", project INTERREG IIIB MEDOC, research group of Politecnico di Milano coordinated by Maria Cristina Treu). The research project is aimed at the development of a quality system for the territorial risk mitigation (natural and anthropogenic risks referred to the municipal context). This paper presents the Environmental Risk Management System procedure proposed by the research group. It refers to the OHSAS 18001:99 certification, this last instrument permits one to link the environmental protection issues to the safety issues, and it also permits one to achieve the integration aims between the Environmental Management System (EMS) and the territorial risk analysis (instruments both referred to the territorial quality improvement process and plans). The main advantages of the EMS implementation in the Municipal government decision making/management process are: the improvement of the territorial risk culture; the definition of a basic knowledge of the territorial data geographically referenced; improvement of the involvement and the cooperation among stakeholders; constant verification of impacts due to the planning decision; a proactive approach to the environmental issue; the implementation of policies supporting preventive actions (territorial risk prevention and mitigation, emergency management).