Quantitative assessment of health, safety, and environment (HSE) resilience based on the Delphi method and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in municipal solid waste management system: A case study in Tehran

Background: The health, safety, and environment (HSE) resilience is the ability of a system to adapt, resist and cope with the HSE risks in critical situations. In this study, the HSE resilience in solid waste management (SWM) system of Tehran was quantitatively assessed using HSE resilience index (HSE-RI). Methods: The principles and components of HSE-RI were determined and weighted based on the expert panel opinions using Delphi technique and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The HSE-RI scores were divided into five categories as very good (80-100), good (65-79), medium (50-64), weak (35-49), and very weak (0-34). Results: The weights of the HSE-RI principles in the SWM system were determined as follows: 0.376 for top management commitment, 0.149 for awareness and risk perception, 0.144 for preparedness, 0.144 for performance, 0.057 for reporting and just culture, 0.0574 for learning culture, 0.055 for flexibility, and 0.017 for redundancy. The highest and lowest scores of the resilience principles in the SWM system were related to the principles of awareness and risk perception (73.6), and reporting and just culture (45.1), respectively. The HSE-RI score in the SWM system was 62.9 (medium). Conclusion: The results of this study based on the Delphi method and AHP showed that the HSE resilience in the SWM system of Tehran was not at the desired level. The principles of top management commitment (with the highest weight), reporting and just culture and preparedness (with the lowest scores) were determined as the most effective points for improving the HSE resilience in the SWM system of Tehran.