How are we vulnerable? Opening industrial hazards vulnerability analysis to participation

Abstract

The risk analysis framework has been the dominant theoretical framework used to address the uncertainty of a potential hazard bypassing the system's safeguards and protection. In essence, this involves the evaluation of the probability and the magnitude of the consequences of the undesired events that can transform the hazard into actual damage. Despite the technical premises, the importance of integrating social aspects into the analysis is now recognized by an increasing number or risk analysis models. Another way to deal with potential consequences of hazards is to analyze the vulnerability of the system considered. This paradigm overcomes the shortcomings of risk analysis in situations when the knowledge about the probabilities and the outcomes is incomplete or insufficient On the one hand, studies in the literature show that socio-economic factors are often integrated in a participative way in vulnerability analysis models especially in the natural hazards research field. On the other hand, it seems that such considerations are rarely integrated in the models aiming at evaluating the vulnerability to an industrial hazard. What can we learn from the analysis of models addressing vulnerability to natural hazards in terms of the participatory integration of social factors? What could be the reasons to apply such participation tools in order to assess the vulnerability to industrial hazards? These are the questions we address in this contribution. To do so, we realized a systematic literature review from scientific journal papers on vulnerability analysis published in the last two decades. From this review, three main arguments can be found arguing for the use of participation for vulnerability analysis. Indeed, participation allows (1) context-based assessments, that may (2) foster the development of adaptative capacities (3) both for short and long-term. Based on those arguments, we identifiy possible paths to foster participation for context-based industrial vulnerability analysis