A Novel Optimizable Inherent Safety Index Based on Fuzzy Logic

In our days, the concept of inherent safety is gaining popularity thanks to its ability to assess the safety level of a plant at an early design stage. Hence, safety can be considered one of the core design principles, instead of a post-design add-on. In this work, we propose a novel index to assess the inherent safety level of a design. This index is based on the principles of fuzzy logic, which allow the user to shift the importance in the safety criteria easily, and its main objectives is to provide an optimizable framework. In order to achieve an optimizable fuzzy index, some concessions must be made in its methodology. As such, the presented index is not as quantitative as other safety indexes. However, this shortcoming is compensated with the comparative ability and modifiability that this index provides the decision maker with. As a conclusion, we showcase the ability of this novel index in assessing the inherent safety level of an example case.