Safety and hazard control - are we doing too much?

The Chemical Industry has long been aware of the need for safe plants. The record of the industry as a whole is at least comparable and often better than other areas of man's activities. The better companies continue to improve their own safety standards, but it is not clear that this is the best way to improve safety for society as a whole. The poorer companies should do more. The failures of our industry are more likely to come from the poorer companies but these failures will tarnish our whole industry. The paper examines the effects of major accidents, our response to them and critically examines our options for the future.