Quantitative risk assessment approach of chemical laboratories in universities

Abstract

Due to frequent accidents and limited emergency efforts in chemical laboratories, it is crucial to determine risks of chemical laboratories and assess risks in a chemical laboratory. However, there are only a few research on quantitative risk assessment of chemical laboratories in universities. A QRA model for chemical laboratories integrating grey relational analysis (GRA), analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) is proposed in this paper. First, risk indexes of chemical laboratories are systematically identified and quantitatively classified into three levels. Then, the Grey AHP and TOPSIS are integrated to quantitatively determine risk levels by category and comprehensively. The proposed model is validated through a case study of a fine chemical laboratory, demonstrating its capability for quantitatively assessing chemical laboratory risks and supporting decision-making for laboratory managers.