Gabriele Baldissone

Monitoring product temperature is mandatory in a freeze-drying process, in particular in the process development stage, as final product quality may be jeopardized when its temperature trespasses a threshold value, that is a characteristic of each product being freeze-dried. To this purpose thermocouples are usually inserted in some of the vials of the batch to track product dynamics.

Occupational accidents are commonly collected in large databases by National Workers Compensation Authorities and companies’ safety and prevention teams. The analysis of the data can be difficult because the database elements are characterized by many parameters, which are not of a numerical nature. Data mining techniques could represent an efficient tool for the identification of useful information in large databases. In 2011, a two-level clustering method, made of SOM and numerical clustering, obtained positive results in identifying critical accident dynamics.

Data were collected in an automotive production plant during a campaign of observations performed by safety experts. A period of one week of observations was done during which safety experts monitored the working activity of an assembly line. All accident-precursors identified were reported in a format and immediately analysed and classified according to HFACS.

The deep modifications to climate are currently provoking risks of increasing impact, that can cause unexpected consequences, interacting with other risks. However, the available planning regulations and instruments appear inadequate to face this challenge, most of all at a local scale. This paper presents a semi-quantitative methodology for the assessment of multiple risks, developed for the direct use of the municipality technicians, in order to increase their awareness towards multiple risks and unexpected events that could hit their territory.