Barrièregraad

Barrièregraad is a Dutch term used to describe the degree to which barriers in a system prevent or mitigate the exposure to hazards. It covers qualitative and quantitative assessments of barriers that separate hazards from people, property, or the environment. Barriers can be physical (walls, fences), technical (safety interlocks, firewalls), administrative (procedures, permits), or organizational (training, routines).

In practice, barrièregraad is determined by evaluating how effective a barrier is under expected operating conditions. Measurement approaches vary and can include simple descriptive scales such as low, medium, and high, or numerical scores (for example 0–5 or 0–1). Typical contributing factors include design robustness, reliability, maintenance status, detection and response capabilities, human factors, and the specific context in which the barrier operates. The result is used to compare protection levels, identify gaps, and guide risk-reduction decisions.

Applications of barrièregraad span multiple domains, including safety engineering, process safety, environmental protection, and cybersecurity. It is often embedded in risk-management methods that rely on layered protections, such as barrier management systems or layers of protection analyses (LOPA). By understanding the barrier strength at different points in a system, organizations can prioritize investments, schedule maintenance, and allocate resources to strengthen overall risk control.

Limitations of the concept include subjectivity in scoring, context dependence, and potential interactions between barriers that are not fully captured by a single rating. In addition, there is no single universal standard for calculating barrièregraad, so methods vary by sector and organization.