Trends in Accidents, Disasters and Risk Sources in Europe.

Abstract

This paper examines current trends in the risk sources and occurrences of four classes of man-made accidents and disasters due to natural hazards, entailing largely involuntary risk: * major accidents at fixed installations in the process industry, * incidents/ accidents at nuclear installations, * marine transport and offshore installation accidents, * disasters caused by natural hazards and their potential exacerbation by human activities. It aims to provide an integrated overview of such events in Europe (EU, EFTA, PHARE, TACIS countries) during the last decade, estimating and interpreting trends in the number of risk sources and accidental events.