Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Accident prevention is economically justified if the expected losses due to an accident exceed the cost of preventing it. In this paper, this principle is applied to simple accident situations involving explosions, in order to deduce the amount worth spending on prevention. Loss of life is included by assuming a value of £50 000 for a life. The accidents studied are explosions in chemical storage tanks, gas explosions in dwellings and the progressive collapse of flats following an explosion (Ronan Point).