THE DOMINO EFFECT

The right thing said at the wrong time becomes the wrong thing, but it's good to realize it before it's late.

From Treccani:

“In the context of industrial safety linked to the so-called great risks, the problems connected with accidents are addressed whose effects (deriving essentially from fires, explosions or emissions of toxic compounds) can be significant even at considerable distances from the source of the accident and can therefore involve both the population residing around the industrial installation itself, and other industrial equipment located within the same industrial installation or neighboring industrial installations. 

The domino effect is defined as the triggering of a cascade of unwanted events by a primary event, such as for example. the fire of a tank containing a flammable liquid (primary event with the consequent radiation of thermal energy in the immediate vicinity of the burning tank), which causes the collapse of a nearby tank containing a toxic gas (secondary event with the consequent formation of a toxic cloud dispersing into the atmosphere). 

The chain of unwanted events does not necessarily stop at a single secondary event, as the primary event can cause multiple secondary events or the secondary event can in turn trigger another. The name evidently derives from the variant of the domino game in which the tiles are arranged vertically on the narrowest side at a short distance from each other; by making the first tile fall onto the next one, a chain effect (known as the domino effect) is caused, following which each tile causes the next one to fall. 

An important characteristic of the domino effect is that the magnitude of the consequences resulting from secondary events can be more serious than those linked to the primary event; it follows that the domino effect must be carefully considered when assessing the risk deriving from industrial activities. 

The increase in risk resulting from the domino effect can be quantified by evaluating the conditional probability that, following exposure to the effects of the primary accident, secondary accidents will be triggered and the magnitude of the consequences of the secondary events themselves."

What matters then is STOP THE DOMINO EFFECT, acting preventively, analyzing situations, listening to needs, privileging the common good over the economic good.

EB Sicurezza e Ambiente is available to accompany you on this journey.