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International audience; Europe has recently faced several major industrial accidents generated by various causes. They have led to a lot of casualties and major damages to the environment (Enschede 2000, Toulouse 2001, Ath 2004...). Moreover, people have already stressed the influence of terrorism in the emergence of new risks. Geopolitical context has brought about risks wich cannot be completely avoided. It is illustrated by many events : Sarin Attack, Anthrax Letters, USS Cole and Limburg attacks, drinking water contamination, action on industrial sites... Regarding SEVESO establishments and similar critical infrastructures like ports and marshalling yards, these concerns are not included in the safety report required by the Authorities. In this paper, the authors establish, in the first part a brief inventory of the available methodologies and tools in order to elaborate a threat assessment. Then in the second part, they formulates some suggestions to integrate security aspects in a risk assessment, to globalise prevention and response approach in case of chemical accident or intentional act on chemical sites. An example of the adaptation of the ARAMIS methodology is explained in the last part.

The ARAMIS European project started in January 2002. Its overall objective was to build up a new Accidental Risk Assessment Methodology for IndustrieS that combines the strengths of both deterministic and risk-based approaches. It was co-funded under the 5th EC Framework Programme and involved 15 partners from 10 European countries. Three years after, the objective is reached and the methodology is ready to be used. This paper intends to give a very general description of it and, above all, to show how it answers the needs of various stakeholders concerned by the safety of industrial plants. ARAMIS is divided into six major steps, which will be described shortly in this paper. They are detailed in several papers presented in the same SAFE 2005 conference by the main partners of the project. The potential end users of ARAMIS are mainly the industry, the competent authorities and the local authorities. If all of them have an interest in the same risk management process, their needs are slightly different. Their expectations are detailed and the way ARAMIS brings an answer is explained in this paper.

In the SEVESO II Directive, there is no harmonisee definition of the scenarios that have to be considered for risk assessment. Typically, the chosen scenarios (total loss of containment, fire in the largest tank, explosion of the largest mass of explosive, BLEVE.etc.) can be different according to the specific risk analysts and according to the deterministic or risk-based approach of the country applying the Directive. This situation is confirmed by the results of the EC project ASSURANCE, in which 6 European organisations perform a benchmark exercise for the risk analysis of a specific plant. The partners used various hazard analysis techniques and arrived at quite different conclusions with respect to the scenarios that are relevant for the safety assessment. The ARAMIS methodology builds further on the conclusions of the ASSURANCE project and propose a structured approach that reduce the discrepancies in risk assessment. The project consisted in the elaboration of a methodology giving consistent rules for the identification of scenarios that take into account mitigation devices and safety management, and being recognised by a large number of risk experts from Competent Authorities and from Industry. The risk level of an establishment is characterised with an integrated approach where 3 independent parameters are quantified : 1) the consequence severity estimation of scenarios, 2) the prevention management efficiency and 3) the environment vulnerability. The project has brought elements to fulfil the need to establish a method that is capable to assess the risk level of an installation by integrating the preventive measures implemented by the operators. Such a method is a prerequisite in order to reach the goals of the SEVESO II Directive, that are to improve the prevention linked in particular with the safety management. The application of this method results in a more consistent risk evaluation and safety management strategy in all European Countries. The paper presents the main results of the ASSURANCE project and describes how the ARAMIS method has improved the risk assessment phase, and in particular the determination of the scenarios to be considered. It is explained how this approach helps the operator of Seveso plants to demonstrate that risks are properly identified and under control.

This paper intends to give a very general description of the ARAMIS Methodology and to show how it answers the needs of various stakeholders concerned by the safety of industrial plants. ARAMIS is divided into six major steps, which will be described shortly in this paper. The potential end users of ARAMIS are mainly the industry, the competent authorities and the local authorities. If all of them have an interest in the same risk management process, their needs are slightly different. Their expectations are detailed and the way ARAMIS brings an answer is explained in this paper.

ARAMIS is a three-year European project that started in January 2002 and aims at developing a new integrated risk assessment methodology for high-risk industrial sites in combining the strengths of the two approaches most currently used in Europe: the risk-based and deterministic methods. In this respect, the methodology could be used as a supportive tool to speed up the harmonised implementation of the Council Directive 96/82/CE also called SEVESO II Directive. The development of ARAMIS meets the need for a methodology giving consistent rules for the identification of scenarios that take into account some safety devices and some aspects of safety management, and that is recognised by risk experts from Competent Authorities and Industry. The paper presents the overall frame of ARAMIS project. The proposed method results in an integrated risk index composed itself of three independent indexes. Index S assesses the consequence severity of first defined reference scenarios. Index M evaluates Safety Management effectiveness and accounts thus for the scenario probability. Index V estimates the environment vulnerability. Efforts have been made to disseminate work progress and results from the start. A dedicated web-site has been created and a review committee gathering industry risk experts and EU competent authority representatives periodically monitors the project.