The Risk Management of Safety and Dependability

A Guide for Directors, Managers and Engineers

W Wong

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9781845697129
• eBook ISBN:
  9781845699383
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Public Health, Administration & Care

The issue of risk should be embedded into the mindset of every engineer and manager to improve safety and dependability. Companies can be held accountable through law when a gross failing in health and safety management has fatal consequences. Here risk management, the organisational structure required and the main factors needed for its successful execution are explored. What risks must be managed as a legal requirement? How is risk quantified? What methods can be used to reduce risk? Such questions are addressed, alongside case histories of disasters to illustrate failures in risk management.In an easy-to-read and accessible way, The risk management of safety and dependability presents the key factors involved in successful risk management, so that even non-experts in small and medium-sized organisations, as well as engineers and managers, can apply sound safety and dependability principles. - Complies with the recommendations of the Engineering Technology Board - Assesses ways of recognising hazards and procedures for reducing risk in the design of processes, plant and machinery - Provides detailed accounts of three major disasters and describes the lessons to be learnt in relation to risk management

1

Ever-present danger: an introduction to the principles of risk management

Abstract:

People live with a constant risk of disaster. This chapter explains how risks are managed by risk assessment, risk evaluation and taking measures to control risk. These measures have to be dependable to be effective, as measured by their reliability, maintainability and availability. All these matters are part of the process of managing risk and these concepts are explained in simple terms with easy to understand examples from real life disasters. Some guidance on general precepts is given to underline the principles involved.

Key words

risk

assessment

evaluation

control

process

management failures

New Orleans

space shuttle

Railtrack

Buncefield

air collision

general precepts

1.1 Introduction

In the 21st century more and more people live and work in a man-made environment. They depend on engineering and the application of science and technology for housing, electrical and gas supplies, water supplies, the processing of sewage and refuse, transport, communications, the production of raw materials, and even the way food is produced. The effects of global warming, the need to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and the rising world population will intensify this situation. They already understand the impact on the environment due to the use of hydrocarbon fuels for transportation and the generation of electricity. People need to understand the risks to their health and safety.

The dependability of public services is usually taken for granted, and that all needs will be fulfilled as and when required. However, the ever-present dangers that people live under are mostly unseen and unheard until disaster strikes. But, once in a while, the public are shocked out of their complacency with industrial disasters that affect whole towns and communities. For example the railway accidents that occurred in the United Kingdom (UK) during the years 1998–2008, with many dead and injured, had an immediate effect and resulted in a complete reorganisation of the railway infrastructure and management.

Concern over industrial accidents and the pollution from its waste and emissions has resulted in legal requirements that have now extended to every situation to protect the health and safety of workers and the general public. Over the years it has become recognised that the duty of care has to be a team effort that extends up to senior management. In recognition of this, the UK in 2007 established the criminal offence of corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide to deal with failings in risk management. In risk management the initiating action required is that of risk assessment.

1.2 The principles of risk assessment

An approach suitable for assessing risk in the work place is a five-step procedure:¹

• Identify the hazards.

• Decide who might be harmed and how.

• Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions.

• Record the findings and implement them.

• Review the assessment and update as necessary.

However, the general principle of risk assessment in industry² is based on the key elements as follows:

• Identifying hazards, which have a potential for harm.

• Risk is defined as the probability that a hazardous event could occur.

• Consequence is the harm resulting from a hazardous event occurring.

• Risk assessment is the consideration of risk and the consequences of a hazardous event in order to decide if any action is necessary to avoid or to reduce the risk.

• Record the results of the risk assessment and the action taken.

These are very simple concepts to put in place and yet a doctor was heard to say that if she were to worry about risk nothing would ever be done. A headmaster thought that risks should be avoided by cancelling all school excursions. These attitudes, which are all too prevalent, completely miss the point. People need to stop, and think of what could go wrong, and think of measures that will help to prevent those that are unacceptable from happening.

Every time someone crosses a busy road they make a risk assessment. If they are elderly and cannot move very fast they wait until there is no traffic. Younger people will assess the speed and distance of the oncoming traffic, to judge if they can safely cross. Once in a while a young man jogging across a common, runs out across a major road without stopping to make a risk assessment and gets killed by oncoming traffic; people need to stop and think.

In industry there are many complex situations that need to be managed, for these a risk matrix is useful as a qualitative method for conducting a risk assessment to determine its acceptability. Typically this risk assessment process is carried out by a team of multi-discipline engineers and can also involve specialist engineers for more complex situations. The views of each team member and the collective judgement in reaching decisions are essential to ensure all risks are fully understood and recognised.

1.3 The risk assessment matrix

The risk assessment matrix is carried out by formulating a severity level table and a likelihood table so that the selection of the value from the two then provides the risk ranking, which gives an indication of its acceptability.

1.3.1 Severity level

The severity level table can be used for many different situations and the level criteria formulated to suit. For example if it is to do with physical danger to a person it could be based on the level of injury. Table 1.1 shows a typical severity level table.

Table 1.1

Severity level

Class	Level	Definition (any one or more)
1	Serious	In-plant fatality; public fatalities; extensive property damage; serious and long-term environmental damage; 2 or more days extended downtime
2	High	Lost time injury; public injuries or impact; significant property damage; environmental impact exceeding regulation standards; downtime of 1–2 days
3	Medium	Minor injury; moderate property damage; minimum short-term environmental damage; 4–24 hours downtime; disruption of product quality
4	Low	No worker injuries; minor property damage; no environmental impact; downtime less than 4 hours
5	Minor	No worker injuries, property damage or environmental impact; recoverable operational problem

1.3.2 Likelihood

Table 1.2 shows a typical likelihood table. This shows four levels but sometimes using five may be more appropriate depending on the circumstances.

Table 1.2

Likelihood level

Class	Level	Frequency of occurrence
1	Frequent	Potential to occur frequently (many times a year)
2	Occasional	Potential to occur occasionally (once a year)
3	Moderate	Potential to occur under unusual circumstances (once or twice in facility lifetime)
4	Unlikely	Could possibly occur, or known to occur within the same industry, but not likely to occur over the facility lifetime

Ranking matrix

Risk ranking is a qualitative assessment that depends on the ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• About the author
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Ever-present danger: an introduction to the principles of risk management
• Chapter 2: Ignorance is no defence: legislation and the corporate role in managing risk
• Chapter 3: How to recognise hazards: learning about generic industrial hazards
• Chapter 4: Human factors in risk management: understanding why humans fail and are unreliable
• Chapter 5: Exposing hazards: techniques to find possible risks of unacceptable failures in procedures, machines and systems
• Chapter 6: Safe enough? Methods and procedures for evaluating and reducing risk in the design of processes, plant and machinery
• Chapter 7: Inherently unsafe: safety issues in planning a new facility
• Chapter 8: Product risk: managing risk in the design and development process
• Chapter 9: Asset integrity: learning about the cause and symptoms of age and decay and the need for maintenance to avoid catastrophic failures
• Chapter 10: Coping with risk: how to ensure the health and safety of people at work
• Chapter 11: Management disasters: the lessons to be learnt from three major disasters
• Appendix 1: List of abbreviations and acronyms
• Appendix 2: Bibliography
• Appendix 3: Directory of bodies associated with risk management and safety
• Index