Second International Conference on Safety and Security Engineering

 Overview

The Conference was organised by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, and the Wessex Institute of Technology, UK.  The Co-Chairmen were Professors Massimo Guarascio and Fabio Garzia, both of the University of Rome, and Professor Carlos A. Brebbia, Director of WIT.  

Safety and Security Engineering, due to its special nature, represents an inter-disciplinary area of research and applications which bring together, in a systematic view, many disciplines of engineering, from the most traditional to the most advanced.  

Modern Safety and Security Engineering is characterized by a new approach since it analyses hazards, not only be means of traditional tools but also by using risk analysis techniques and then manages the hazards through technical solutions, installation, systems, human resources and procedures to prevent and face incidental events, natural and man-made, which could damage people or property.  

Nowadays, every process or situation needs to undergo a safety study and the results must be taken into account at all stages to ensure the desired safety and security standards within given costs.

 Opening Address

The Conference was opened by Professor Brebbia, who referred to the importance of these meetings for the development of the Wessex Institute of Technology (WIT) as well as for the delegates themselves.  Many projects currently being investigated at WIT originated at conferences held in the past.  In this way, a series of international consortia were put together in which WIT participates as a partner or main coordinator.  

Research projects at WIT of direct relevance to SAFE 07 are:  

• Food and Fecundity
  An EU project to investigate the reasons behind the loss of fecundity in Europe which can have serious political, social and economic influences.  The idea is to find out the possible effects of pharmaceutics.  

• Aquifer Contamination
  Possibility of this contamination due to breakage of chemical or nuclear containers stored in abandoned mines.  The idea is to study the diffusion of noxious substances though fractured rocks during long periods.  

• Aquifer Variations 
  A particular project dealing with the alterations in the water level of a lake system in a region shared by three different countries.  Recent drops in the water level in one of the lakes resulted in aquifer changes.  This can have serious consequences for the economy of a region, which depends on agricultural projects and may lead to serious political problems.  

• Forest Fires 
  A proposal to study the environmental, social, economic consequences of forest fires has been put forward by WIT as main coordinator.  The work involves different partners in the Mediterranean area as well as in Northern Europe.  

• EM Radiation 
  WIT has been working for some time on the development of better models to study the behaviour of the human body parts when subjected to EM radiation of different wavelengths.  This has led to the development of a human body model as well as to some body parts such as for the eyes and head.  

• Damage Mechanics 
  Several important projects have been carried out for the offshore industry involving problems related to corrosion and fracture, for cases that could lead to dramatic environmental disasters.  

Professor Brebbia explained that the above are some of the areas of interest to WIT that relate to the Conference topics.  In addition, the Institute works in the development of a series of advanced modelling techniques, some of them based in the flagship invention of WIT, the Boundary Element Method.  

Professor Brebbia also mentioned the considerable success of the Transactions of Wessex Institute, the series that contains all papers presented at WIT conferences.  These papers are archived on the Website of the Institute’s Publisher (witpress.com) where they are widely consulted.  The current statistics demonstrate that there are 15,000 downloads of abstracts and papers per month.  It is interesting to find out that many of the downloads refer to old papers as well as to more recent ones.  

Professor Massimo Guarascio also welcomed the delegates after Professor Brebbia’s opening remarks, explaining the importance of the meeting and hoping that this conference would be as successful as the first in Rome.  He also wished the delegates a pleasant stay in Malta, which is a most interesting island with a rich history of great importance for Europe.

 Conference Topics

The Conference papers covered a wide range of topics and were divided into the following sections:  

• Planning and strategy
• Risk analysis, assessment and management
• Fire prevention and protection
• Environmental protection
• Modelling and theoretical studies
• Industrial cases
• Transportation problems
• Security in public places
• Public safety
• Terrorism prevention and protection
• Emergency and disaster prevention, control, management and recovery

 Invited Presentations

There was also a series of invited presentations, as follows:  

• “Road tunnel safety rules in Italy: the tunnel country”, by M Guarascio, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Italy
• “Optimisation of risk criteria for road tunnels”, by M Holicky, Czech Technical University
• “Improving HVAC system performance: towards the design of sustainable and immune buildings”, by F Haghighat, Concordia University, Canada
• “The access control system of the Vatican City State”, by F Garzia, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Italy

 Special Session on Security in Public Places

A special session was dedicated to “Security in Public Places”.  This was organised by Dr. F-X Josset of Thales Research & Technology, France.  

• “Normalized auditory attention levels for automatic audio surveillance”, by F Bettens, Faculte Polytechnique des Mons, Belgium
• “SERKET: an open software platform for preventive security in public crowded places and for large events”, by F-X Josset, Thales Research & Technology, France
• “Fear-type emotion recognition and abnormal events detection for an audio-based surveillance system”, by C Clavel, Thales Research & Technology, France
• “Unified management of heterogeneous sensors for complex event processing”, by V Guardiola-Buitrago, University of Murcia, Spain
• “Innovation measure through the European project SERKET”, by B Monnier, Thales Research & Technology, France
  

The SERKET system can have important applications for marine transport security, in places such as airports, train stations, underground and sea ports.  The system offers the possibility of carrying out complex event processing.

 ISAC Meeting

The Meeting of the International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC) was held in a restaurant located in an old windmill.  The discussions, which took place over dinner, included the aims of the conference and the list of topics.  It was decided to stress more the need to evaluate the damages due to different factors such as economic, ecological, environmental and others affecting issues related to safety and security.  There was general agreement that the type of risk analysis usually carried out is not sufficient to address the concerns of all parties and it is now necessary to look at a more inter-disciplinary approach.  The delegates also agreed that the next meeting ought to be held in Italy. 

 Conference Dinner

The Conference dinner took place on board a specially chartered boat coming from the port of St Julian’s into the Grand Harbour, where the delegates landed to take part in a tour of historical buildings.  The tour included the historical Castle built by the Knights of St John, the old part of town containing the hostels of the Knights and a series of old churches.  A music ensemble played Maltese songs for the delegates on board.  The occasion was most enjoyable and offered a unique view of some of the ancient sites of Malta.

 Publication of Papers

The proceedings of Safety and Security Engineering II, 592pp (ISBN: 1-84564-068-2) are available in hard back from WIT Press priced at £195/US$389/€292.50. Orders can be placed by telephone: +44 (0) 238 029 3223, fax: +44 (0) 238 029 2853, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or via the WIT Press web site at www.witpress.com.  

Papers from the conference will also be hosted online at the WIT eLibrary as Volume 94 of WIT Transactions on The Built Environment (ISSN: 1743-3509). For more details visit the WIT eLibrary at www.witpress.com.  

Patagonia a forgotten land – from Magellan to Peron, by C.A. Brebbia,  384 pp (ISBN 978-1-84564-061-3) is available in hard back from WIT Press, priced at £33/US$59/€49.50.  Orders can be placed as above.

The New Forest: A Personal View, by C.A. Brebbia, 112pp (ISBN 1-85312-504-0) is available in hard back from WIT Press, priced at £22.50/US$35.10/€37.50.  Orders can be placed as above.