Traditionally, the severity of accidents in the chemical process industries has been gauged on the basis of the human lives lost.

However, factors such as loss of assets, contamination of the surroundings, and the resultant trauma also contribute to a very large extent towards the adverse impacts of such accidents.

We have developed Accident Hazard Index (AHI) as a new system for a comprehensive yet rapid assessment of the damage caused by accidents in the chemical process industries.

The index can also be used to assess the impacts of accidents likely in a yet-to-be-commissioned industry on the basis of site characteristics and the industry's process and operational details ; the index thus enables one to choose between possible sites for setting up a new industry.