A decision support system for the simulation of industrial accidents

Lombardy is the Italian region with the highest number of hazardous industrial activities as defined by the Seveso II Directive (96/82/EC). The regional Civil Protection Department has developed an integrated modelling system for the simulation of the consequences of industrial accidents. One of the system modules, the decision support system, implements the algorithms described by the US-EPA for the management of the offsite consequence analysis that allow a fast evaluation of the hazards associated to a given industrial plant. This paper presents the main rationale and features of this fast and simple but effective tool, together with examples of application for different possible accidents that may happen in industrial plants where hazardous activities are carried out.