Risk-based indices as a tool for assessing the sustainability of industrial installations

The influence of an industrial installation on the surrounding environment is quite complex and difficult to be synthetically represented. Both positive and negative effects are usually present: availability of work places and economic advantages for the local community; environmental pollution and harmful accidental events and many others. A number of methodologies have been proposed to assess the complex interaction between industry and territory. In most cases they address specific issues of this quite complex interaction, such as the polluting effect of the ordinary emissions on the environment or on the public health; safety and health on the workplaces, etc. Recently, an increasing number of methodologies based on risk analysis are considering the accidental events which can have an impact on the surrounding population or environment. Other studies attempt to represent the vulnerability of the surrounding environment. However, these factors have been rarely considered together, to provide a comprehensive view of the interaction between the production site and the surrounding area. Besides the mentioned lack of interconnection, in many cases the methodologies are too generic to provide significant results; conversely, in other cases, the amount of input information required to calculate the indices is so large and so detailed that the procedure becomes too demanding, would the needed data actually be available. In the present work, some available methods are critically analyzed, and a new methodology is proposed, based on risk indices concerning both the negative effects of the industrial site and the sensitive targets of the surrounding environment. This may provide a more realistic representation of the industry-territory interaction, and a significant help to public authorities and decision makers in properly addressing the most critical system’s elements, thus allowing a sustainable production and a true benefit for the local and global community.