The Chemical Accident Risk Assessment Thesaurus (CARAT) stands as a crucial resource for professionals worldwide involved in chemical safety and risk management. This comprehensive database is meticulously compiled to offer a structured understanding of the complex landscape of regulations, legal frameworks, guidance documents, and precise definitions pertinent to the risk assessment of accidental chemical releases from fixed industrial sites. Furthermore, CARAT extends its utility by providing insightful case studies that demonstrate the practical application of risk assessment methodologies across diverse scenarios of potential chemical incidents.
The impetus for the development of CARAT originated from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Recognizing the critical need for clear and consistent communication amongst its member nations regarding the safety of hazardous industrial installations, the OECD championed the creation of this thesaurus. The primary obstacle to effective international communication in this field lies in the nuanced interpretations of technical terminology. Certain “terms of art” can carry different meanings across various countries and cultural contexts. Conversely, different terminologies might be employed to describe fundamentally the same concept. CARAT is expertly designed to overcome these linguistic and definitional hurdles, serving as an invaluable tool for the detailed analysis and comparison of terms related to risk assessment. This makes the concept of Thesaurus Compare central to its function.
Within CARAT, each entry is carefully curated to incorporate information sourced from a wide array of international, national, and regional agencies. These entries concentrate on the processes and definitions that are central to risk assessment, specifically focusing on the domain of accidental chemical releases. Importantly, the entire CARAT system is readily accessible online, ensuring ease of use and broad availability for users globally.
To facilitate efficient information retrieval, CARAT is equipped with five distinct search functionalities. Two of these are specifically engineered to enable users to explore the core entries of the CARAT database. One search tool is dedicated to locating laws, regulations, specific risk assessment cases (SRAs), and risk assessment guidance documents (RAGs) that are relevant to chemical accidents. The second specialized search function is designed for exploring entries that consist of definitions. The CARAT’s architecture is particularly adept at capturing the essence of definitions, whether they are expressed as procedural definitions—describing an “operation on a concept”—or conceptual definitions, which focus solely on delineating the “concept” itself.
A particularly powerful feature is the “Comparison” query tool, which directly embodies the thesaurus compare functionality. This sophisticated tool empowers users to conduct detailed comparisons of CARAT entries. Users can juxtapose laws and regulations, SRAs, RAGs, or definitions, in any combination, enabling a nuanced understanding of similarities and differences across various regulatory and practical contexts. The remaining two search tools provide further refinement by allowing users to identify entries based on specific combinations of hierarchical or descriptor details. Both of these search types support Boolean “and/or” logic, offering advanced search precision and flexibility.
