Ricci (AIDIC): "There is no industrial transformation without safety"

No change in the manufacturing sector can ignore the protection of work and territory. To support it isGiuseppe Riccipresident of AIDIC (Italian Association of Chemical Engineering) and Chief Operating Officer Industrial Transformation of Eni, who tomorrow will participate in the conference “Seveso, 50 years later: from the Accident to the innovation of the Culture of Safety”, at the Istituto Superiore Antincendi (ISA) in Rome in via del Commercio 13. The objective of the meeting is to create synergies and integrations between the skills of CNVVF, ISPRA (SNPA), INAIL, Civil Protection National, and of the Chemical Engineering community (University and Industry) represented by AIDIC for a moment that is not only the memory of such a relevant historical fact, but capable of tracing the future trajectories of prevention and protection of the territory.

“Fifty years after the Seveso accident, our country has the duty to transform memory into concrete responsibility. 10 July 1976 represented a watershed date for Europe, giving rise to the ‘Seveso’ legislation and a modern awareness of industrial risk. Seveso – explains Ricci – is not just a page in European industrial history: it is the point from which a new culture of prevention, risk management and territorial protection was born. Today, however, that culture is called to face challenges that are even more complex and profoundly different than in the past”.

Industrial safety is once again a priority just as the European production sector is going through an epochal metamorphosis. The energy transition, the digitalisation of systems and the introduction of new technological chains are in fact redesigning the potential dangers linked to industrial activity.

The impact of the climate and new energy vectors

In recent times, the European Union has focused attention on NaTech phenomena, i.e. those technological accidents caused by increasingly violent climatic and environmental anomalies, which threaten the stability of strategic infrastructures and production systems. At the same time, the rapid development towards hydrogen, batteries, energy storage systems, biofuels and new smart grids requires a constant review of engineering knowledge and protection protocols.

“Today in Italy there are over a thousand factories subject to the Seveso Directive, often located in industrial areas adjacent to residential or strategic areas for logistics and energy – underlines the president of AIDIC – for this reason, industrial safety has long been not a topic confined to professionals: it directly concerns the protection of workers, citizens, the environment, critical infrastructures and therefore the resilience of the country”.

From cyber threats to sustainable development

Current events also remind us how industrial systems are exposed to new vulnerabilities, including digital ones. Cyber ​​attacks against strategic infrastructures and energy networks today represent an element of concrete risk that goes alongside traditional plant unexpected events. The culture of prevention must therefore evolve by integrating the physical protection of structures, the protection of the ecosystem and cybersecurity.

The lesson deriving from the 1976 disaster retains its strength intact: financing prevention does not represent a mere formal fulfillment, but rather a lever to stimulate technological advancement, market efficiency and long-term sustainability. The ecological transition and the adoption of alternative sources offer a golden opportunity to the European economy, provided they are supported by rigorous engineering calculations, periodic checks, staff training and far-sighted risk planning.