The main purpose of this paper is to point out a new approach in evaluating the preparedness of the population of a selected city for civil protection and its response to emergencies. Using new approaches, it evaluates a subjective questionnaire survey in combination with the objective state thanks to a mathematical approach and its subsequent verification on a specific example. The proposed approaches are then verified by experimental surveys in the selected city. The result is a highly adaptable tool that can be set up and adapted to different situations and different types of questionnaires to address the preparedness and safety of the population for emergencies. Thanks to this tool, it is possible to evaluate the subjective opinions of the population and thus gain insight into the assessment of the city’s preparedness for emergencies. Subsequently, we can set the prevention and preparedness of the population in the city on the basis of the obtained outputs, which potentially has a fundamental influence on the response after the occurrence of an emergency. Improving preparedness in the area of civil protection shall not only be reflected in the response and minimization of the consequences of the emergency, but also in the emotional security of the population.

Today’s modern society offers many new opportunities, but also many risks. Even modernization of companies cannot completely eliminate these dangers. In the smart industry, despite significant technological progress, it is necessary to work with various raw materials, including hazardous substances. It is these raw materials that will continue to pose risks in the future for industrial accidents, which cannot be ruled out. The possible release of hazardous substances can potentially have a negative impact on the environment and safety of the population. In order to deal with certain emergencies, it is necessary to allocate a large amount of funds and resources to them. The paper focuses on risk prevention in industry and the use of modern and new approaches. Specifically, it focuses on the implementation of the prevention of leakage of hazardous substances in the gaseous state from industrial facilities. The aim of the paper is to present a new approach to the prevention of leakage of hazardous substances, which provides more realistic calculations for modeling leaks and thus helps to reduce the cost of prevention. However, security in crisis management is not diminished. ALOHA CAMEO software was used for leak modeling, which the authors commonly use in practical applications and modeling in industrial enterprises in the performance of duties in the field of civil protection and crisis management. ALOHA software is used for such modeling, serving as a support tool for modeling for all crisis managers in Industry 4.0. This paper deals with the modeling of dispersion of hazardous substances with specific properties escaping from technological equipment located inside a building. This concerns the inability of the current dispersion model software to prevent the spread of the next leak inside the building containing the substance. A solution is needed to fix this problem. This issue is well illustrated by a specific example at the end of this article. The mentioned improvement of tools for simulation of industrial accidents influences the possibilities of development also in Industry 4.0. It enables more effective preparation for the management of possible accidents with regard to the appropriate spending of funds for prevention and subsequent response.

The aim of the paper is to assess the impact of the length of entrepreneurship on the perception of the most important business risks in Slovakia and the Visegrad Group of Countries (V4 countries). The empirical research was conducted in 2019-2020. It was focused on assessing the state of enterprise risk management (ERM) application. The research file contained 422 online questionnaires completed by owners and managers of enterprises (OMEs). The results of this case study were compared with the results of similar studies performed in the V4 countries in 2017-2018. In total, 1,781 OMEs participated in the surveys mentioned. The following statistical methods were used to assess the data: ANOVA, Bartlett’s test, Agostini test, good fit test, and Grubbs test. The overall results of the empirical research highlight the significance and importance of the assessment of business risks in the V4 countries. The results in Slovakia in 2019-2020 and the research results in the V4 countries in 2017-2018 show that OMEs still consider market and economic risks to be most important in their business. Market and economic risks are related to sources that exert the most negative influence on enterprise success. The results are valuable for entrepreneurs, enterprise managers and institutions that provide comprehensive entrepreneurship support in the V4 countries. The overall results are significant at the regional, national, and international levels of the V4 countries and have the ability to strengthen the competitiveness of entrepreneurs within the EU common market.

The article aims to identify, analyze, and quantify disparities in the impact of entrepreneurial risks on the future of small and medium-sized enterprises in the business environment of the Czech Republic in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was carried out on 814 SMEs in two phases. 454 SMEs participated in the first phase of the research, which took part before the COVID-19 pandemic. 360 SMEs took part in the second research phase during the pandemic. Statistical methods such as correlation analysis and linear regression modeling were applied to evaluate statistical hypotheses. The results yielded interesting findings. According to respondents, the three most significant business risks in the SME segment include market, financial, and personnel risk in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneurs saw the adequacy of sales and financial performance of the business as key determinants that impact the future of SMEs over a 5-year horizon. Conversely, during the COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneurs perceived the management of the company's personnel performance, financial performance, and ability to manage financial risk as determinants that affect the future of SMEs over five years. According to owners and top managers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the most significant factor is the adequacy of personnel risk in SMEs.On the one hand, the findings benefit the owners themselves and the top managers of SMEs. On the other hand, government institutions and organizations that decide on government measures promote a penetrating environment. Also, the non-profit sector (e.g. Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts of the Czech Republic) assists SMEs in their edible activities and activities.

This article aims to determine the disparities between SMEs in management and risk management depending on the type of management, age, and size of SMEs in the business environment of Slovakia. The case study was conducted in 2019/2020 on a sample of 362 owners and top managers of SMEs. The hypotheses were verified using statistical methods—the Pearson chi-squared test and the Z-test. The results show that SMEs are more involved in risk management than microenterprises. Process-driven SMEs largely perceive market risk. Medium-sized enterprises perceive personnel risk more intensely than microenterprises and small enterprises. Not even one out of every five owners or top managers can manage risks, and more than 15% of SMEs do not conduct any risk management activities. Financial reserves and insurance are the most used risk reduction measures in SMEs. The purpose of the survey is to strengthen the resilience of SMEs and to find out the causes of the weakening of resilience concerning the investigated risk factors. The creation of integrated management systems presupposes the inclusion of the risk management system among other management systems. By implementing risk management, it is possible to increase the efficiency of management systems.