Discussion: Papers 5 and 6

The Chairman (Dr W. E. Duckworth)

Discussion on the earlier papers should have generated the sense of unease which the organizers had planned, leading to consideration of the means available to reduce the risk of major incidents. The problems are real, the potential hazards are numerous, and the interest by the informed and by the lay public is increasing. After the previous discussion, I shall be much more aware, when I am overtaking some large vehicles on the motorway, of the meaning of the Hazchem code, and that will certainly condition my speed and space of overtaking.

The responsibility for improving the present position rests not only with the legislators in the UK and abroad but with the public services for implementing the law and mitigating the effects of eventual accidents, and especially with the professional scientists and engineers who must assess the risks and provide data in a reasonably usable form for those who do not have the technical knowledge on which judgment and action can be based.