Quantitative Fire Risk Assessment Procedure at Pesticide Storage Facilities in Romania

Abstract

Accidents involving fires occurring at facilities used for the storage of chemicals have determined the elaboration of specific legislation such as the SEVESO Directives. Pesticides represent major-threat chemical substances which, due to improper handling and storage, can induce fire and explosion risks, endangering the life and safety of population and causing major environmental pollution. The paper focuses mainly on these risks and their analysis methods, although health and environmental risks associated to the manufacturing, usage and transport of pesticides are of major concern, too. The procedure described in the paper uses a calculation method where the possibility to develop a fire is quantified using a set of fire scenarios, each with a certain occurrence probability, a certain fire surface and a certain time duration of the fire. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013.