2.2. Societal risk
A societal risk criterion takes the possibilities of catastrophic accidents of major societal concern into account to ensure that the risks imposed on the society from the activity are controlled. Depending on the system under consideration, both individual and societal risk evaluation criteria might apply. Societal risk posed by a cruise ship terminal facility is measured by the exposure probability of a group of people to risks, and where a large number of people are affected by possible accidents and would be exposed to a hazardous level of harm (fatality) due to all types of potential accidents at the facility or through its activity. The societal risk is dependent on both the density of people in the vicinity of a hazardous terminal (e.g., LNG, Chemical or oil terminal) and the location of the population in relation to the facility. The societal risk is generally presented in the form of an F–N curve, expressing the relationship between the annual probability (F) of exceeding a given number of fatalities and the number (N) Trbojevic, 2005. In most countries, the risk assessment is performed on the basis of potential fatalities to the exposed population. Different countries use slightly different criteria for risk acceptability. In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines require the use of the individual risk as the principal measure, but also the use of the societal risk criteria for land use planning. Facilities are permitted only when these (published) criteria are met. In the Netherlands, however, both the individual risk criteria and the societal risk criteria must be met when considering those events whose hazardous effects extend to such distances at which the conditional probability for lethality is higher than 1%