The manufacturing miracle
Efficient industry and manufacturing processes play an important part in sustainable development. From reducing hazards and minimising waste to managing water and optimising resources, many processes related to production and storage can be improved significantly in favour of sustainability. The EU-funded project SHAPE-RISK aimed to advance this concept. Working on streamlining integrated risk management, the project sought to produce useful guidelines for designing safer and cleaner industrial systems. It conferred with industry players in order to formulate recommendations that meet different stakeholders' needs. Moreover, the project developed its recommendations in line with expert authorities and bodies beyond industry to capture all the requirements needed to achieve its objectives. To illustrate, SHAPE-RISK considered risk management in terms of environment according to the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and looked at accident hazards according to the EU's Seveso II Directive. Equally important, these recommendations took into consideration occupational health and safety as stipulated in the EU's ATEX Directive which describes the equipment and systems to use in potentially explosive atmospheres. Under the project, a network of all these actors worked closely with industry, the public, government authorities and NGOs in order to build a set of highly valuable and useful recommendations. The expected outcome of project results is increased safety and minimised pollution all the way from raw materials to end products. With this, Europe's industries are destined to become cleaner, greener and much more sustainable.
