**5. Conclusions**

This is a pilot study that is based on the awareness that the increasingly complexity of industrial plants and the need to analyze safety systems lead researchers to develop new methodological approach. In the present research the main gap of the qualitative approach of FRAM method was overcome with the integration of a multi-criteria decision-making method. The research proposes the integration of the traditional FRAM method with AHP. The integration of AHP with FRAM allows to investigate a new perspective in the field of risk management. The model was applied in a real case study to evaluate the performance of emergency operations in a petrochemical company. Considering the variability of each system function, the research numerically shows the level of variability generated by an upstream function on a downstream function. The results obtained are aimed at identifying function couplings that could generate high variability. Future development of research is the integration technological and organizational aspects, beyond human ones. Moreover, the model can be applied in different socio-technical systems where a high level of complexity requires the use of innovative tools. Thus, the proposed model will be tested in other situations or industrial settings.
