An Ontology to Support Safety Management in Industrial Establishments Handling Dangerous Substances

Industrial establishments involving dangerous substances shall comply with Seveso Directive in order to control major accident hazards, prevent accidents, and limit adverse consequences for human health and the environment. Recent studies have emphasised the intricate socio-technical nature of such establishments, highlighting the need to adopt systemic and knowledge-based approaches for supporting their safety management. The effective implementation of such approaches can be fostered by the definition of an ontology able to capture all the organisational, technological, and social elements interacting within a Seveso system. This paper aims to develop a novel ontology to support safety management in Seveso establishments by addressing the various actors, organisations, equipment, processes, and their interactions prescribed by the Directive. Such ontology leverages existing ontologies related to Seveso sites and/or industrial plants, and it is intended to serve as a reference for various stakeholders involved in the safety management of industrial Seveso establishments. It provides a formalised and structured description of the relevant concepts and their relations, and facilitates the sharing of up-to-date knowledge around this domain.