Risk Strategy. Safety Risk Management

This article describes how safety risk management is a key component of any safety management system and involves identifying safety hazards to your operations and assessing the risks of mitigation. To successfully identify hazards you should think laterally and be unencumbered by past ideas and experience

Introduction

The term “safe”

Those involved in disaster management are often faced with defining what level of safety from hazard exposure is considered sufficient. There is not necessarily a correct answer to the question “how safe is safe enough?” ( Derby and Keeney, 1981). Most people assume that referring to something as “safe” implies that all risk has been eliminated. However, because such an absolute level of safety is virtually unattainable in the real world, risk managers must establish thresholds of risk that define a frequency of occurrence below which society need not worry about the hazard. Derby and Keeney (1981) contend that a risk becomes safe or acceptable if it is “ associated with the best of the available”

This definition can cause great disagreement between the public and disaster risk management officials. The public may expect a level af safety determined to be zero risk for some hazards, such as terrorism in the United States. Officials may need to recalibrate the public’s perception of these hazards continually to let the public know that although the risks are in fact stille possible, they have been mitigated to the best of the country` s social, economic, and technological abilities. Although the chances of a terrorist attack will always exist, governments strive to attain levels of security dictating that the risks are so low that people need not worry.

To determine what level of safety is most acceptable, Derby and Keeney ( 1981 ) contend that “the best combination of advantages and disadvantages” must be chosen from among several alternatives. For instance, although the risk for car accidents is one of the greatest we face on a daily basis, eliminating the risk by prohibiting the use of cars is impractical. However, we can make cars more resistant to impact, add seat belts and airbags, and enact laws and regulations that limit the ways in which cars are operated. The result is a level of safety upon which society agrees is acceptable in relation to the benefits ( mobility ) retained.

Paul Barnes of the Australian Department of Primary Industries explains the importance of establishing an agreement on what constitutes safety in the community. He writes:

Is our goal Community safety or Safer Communities? As a societal outcome, Community Safety can be sought via efficient and effective regulation at an institutional level. Associated with this regulation must be similarly high standards of risk management applied at the community level. The establishment of safer communities , however , is a different matter. Before this can be sought as a goal, determinations must be made about what safety means to the communities themselves. To do this, institutional regulators must ensure that use of their expertise does not promote inflexibility in understanding the world – views of the public.

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source:

Coppola, D. (2021): “Introduction to International Disaster Management”

October 6, 2021October 6, 2021

Risk Management Decision

Risk strategy. Risk management decision-making

This article describes how problems have been identified in processes, which are not always perfect, and how there is often anomaly and unreasonableness in deciding what is passable, what treatment options could be dominant in the three areas where problems can be identified.

introduction

Decision-making processes in risk management are not perfect, and in fact there are often biases and injustices in determining what is acceptable and deciding which treatment options are best.

The following are three areas where such issues have been identified:

Individuals with money and interests can influence the process of determining whether risk can be accepted. Because the process of determining (including the costs of mitigation and regulatory practices) is influenced by politics and may be shaped by political ideology, it is possible for companies or interest groups to lobby and influence these decisions. This can be seen with dangers such as handguns and assault rifles, environmental degradation, soil and water pollution and construction in hazardous areas. Increased citizen participation in the process can reduce the type of injustice. By increasing the decision-making power of the general public, a more democratic outcome is possible (although not guaranteed).

Putting a dollar number (in cost-benefit analysis) on a human life is unethical and incomprehensible. This is primarily a factor related to involuntary risks. For those whose lives are at risk, any dollar figure will seem low or inappropriate as a trade-off to accept the risk. Many people would feel that their life is too great a price to pay for the existence of involuntary risk. The cognitive processes that dictate these decisions about “people in a human life” are often different for voluntary risks. As the example of car safety illustrates, people are willing to accept some increase in risk to their own lives in favor of more affordable products. How much more affordable is different from person to person. Nevertheless, as evidenced by lawsuits against tobacco companies from smokers who became ill, people may be reluctant to accept some voluntary risks despite prior knowledge of these risks. Due to the controversial nature of putting a value on life, it is rare that a risk assessment study would actually indicate a dollar figure for the amount that could be saved per. Accepted human loss of life. Subsequent studies have calculated the dollar numbers used per. Life during a crisis, but wondering how much a company or government is willing to spend to save or risk a life would be extremely distasteful to most people.

Risk management is usually an undemocratic process because those who may be harmed are not always identified or asked if the danger is acceptable to them. It is not hard to remember a case where a vulnerable or disadvantaged group of people were exposed to a risk whose benefits were enjoyed by others. Many landfills for toxic waste are located in poor parts of the city, towns and states, although people in these communities did not have much to say in determining the location of such materials. Related to these materials. In the context of this injustice, the reality is that the poor are usually less able to avoid such risks because the properties or jobs available to them are often associated with the same risks. It is often the poor who have to live in areas at high risk of floodplains, or under high-voltage power lines or along highways. These carry a greater proportion of the population risk, whereas many others enjoy much lower risk levels from these particular dangers, even though they enjoy a disproportionate share of the benefits. Risk communication and public participation are thus important in counteracting these injustices.

Feel free to comment, or contact us for more information!

source:

Coppola, D. (2021): “Introduction to International Disaster Management”

September 22, 2021September 22, 2021

Sendai Framework

This article describes the disasters page, how The Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction reduces disaster risks in people’s economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets, community economics and business.

Introduction

A project manager encounters problems, without notice. No matter what you plan, those questions will occur. Therefore, Sendai Framework methods are an important tool to use, to reduce risks that a project manager encounters in the daily work. Thus, how more specific approaches in this regard can be made effective in the treatment of historical areas worldwide. For example, risk management is now considered important in the context of historic buildings, as they are strongly related to cultural identity as well as to resilient communities and can have a major impact on local economies. This indicates that cultural heritage can be the central focus area for capacity building in less vulnerable places, and the protection of it is one of the main tasks to take care of in reducing vulnerability. Including what actions could enable better protection of cultural heritage. Can do by involving local communities in reconstruction plans, as well as in capacity building and self-directed projects? How can we preserve that cultural heritage? Additionally, how have reconstruction plans been administered recently worldwide?

Moving forward

The purpose of the Sendai Framework “ambitious agreement” to reduce local vulnerability is the biggest and still unattended challenge that can make a difference in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, but also in advance by preventing damage. This challenge has grown critically due to increasing climate change, natural disasters and man-made disasters along with rapid urbanization. These factors are also associated with the transformation of peripheral areas around cities around the world, often with very poor build quality. Population of marginal rural areas, where historic centers of high cultural value are often located, is another of the consequences of disasters, leading to the general lack of local recovery policies. Today, situations of prolonged crisis and recurrence of conflict are becoming more frequent. As a result, the opportunities for rapid recovery of the cultural sector are significantly reduced, which in turn leads to further irreversible loss and vulnerability. There is today a growing recognition that the protection of cultural diversity and the promotion of cultural pluralism by protecting society’s tangible and intangible heritage and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is more than a cultural emergency. It is a security and humanitarian imperative in conflict and transition situations and an essential element in ensuring sustainable peace and development. It is also crucial for risk management due to lack of maintenance among other factors.