Quantitative fire risk assessment of cotton storage and a criticality analysis of risk control strategies

Summary Although fires can easily occur during cotton storage, research on cotton storage fire risk assessment is limited. This work focuses on cotton storage fire risk assessment and investigates the criticality of risk control strategies. Bow‐tie and Bayesian network models are established to investigate the relationships among accident causes, safety barriers, and possible consequences. The results show that the first safety barrier (detection and extinguishment before fire brigade arrival) is more controllable and more effective than the second safety barrier (fire brigade). Based on the collected probability data, the probability and risk of a common accident are higher than those of a large accident and severe accident when safety barriers succeed; when the first safety barrier fails, the probabilities and risks of large and severe accidents increase by more than 2000 times. The criticality of safety measures is investigated by analysing their structural importance, probability importance, and critical importance. The critical events for fire occurrence are an open flame and sparks during storage, and the critical events for detection and extinguishment before fire brigade arrival are watchkeeper monitoring, regular patrolling, and automatic fire alarm systems. For cotton storage safety, this work and its outcomes are used to support the decision‐making of fire risk prevention and control.