Book excerpt: This popular safety best-seller is designed to help the user quantify the expected damage of potential fire and explosion incidents in realistic terms, identify the equipment likely to contribute to the creation or escalation of an incident, and communicate the fire and explosion risk potential to management. Based on Dow's Fire and Explosion Risk Analysis Program, the index provides a step-by-step, objective evaluation of the actual fire and explosion, as well as reactivity potential of process equipment and its contents.