• Title/Summary/Keyword: Risk assessment system

Search Result 1,362, Processing Time 0.032 seconds

Risk Assessment in the UK Health and Safety System: Theory and Practice

  • Russ, Karen
    • Safety and Health at Work
    • /
    • v.1 no.1
    • /
    • pp.11-18
    • /
    • 2010
  • In the UK, a person or organisation that creates risk is required to manage and control that risk so that it is reduced 'So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable (SFAIRP).' How the risk is managed is to be determined by those who create the risk. They have a duty to demonstrate that they have taken action to ensure all risk is reduced SFAIRP and must have documentary evidence, for example a risk assessment or safety case, to prove that they manage the risks their activities create. The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not tell organisations how to manage the risks they create but does inspect the quality of risk identification and management. This paper gives a brief overview of where responsibility for occupational health and safety lies in the UK, and how risk should be managed through risk assessment. The focus of the paper is three recent major UK incidents, all involving fatalities, and all of which were wholly avoidable if risks had been properly assessed and managed. The paper concludes with an analysis of the common failings of risk assessments and key actions for improvement.

A two-step interval risk assessment method for water inrush during seaside tunnel excavation

  • Zhou, Binghua;Xue, Yiguo;Li, Zhiqiang;Gao, Haidong;Su, Maoxin;Qiu, Daohong;Kong, Fanmeng
    • Geomechanics and Engineering
    • /
    • v.28 no.6
    • /
    • pp.573-584
    • /
    • 2022
  • Water inrush may occur during seaside urban tunnel excavation. Various factors affect the water inrush, and the water inrush mechanism is complex. In this study, nine evaluation indices having potential effects on water inrush were analysed. Specifically, the geographic and geomorphic conditions, unfavourable geology, distance from the tunnel to sea, strength of the surrounding rock, groundwater level, tidal action, cyclical footage, grouting pressure, and grouting reinforced region were analysed. Furthermore, a two-step interval risk assessment method for water inrush management during seaside urban tunnel excavation was developed by a multi-index system and interval risk assessment comprised of an interval analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, and relative superiority analysis. The novel assessment method was applied to the Haicang Tunnel successfully. A preliminary interval risk assessment method for water inrush was performed based on engineering geological conditions. As a result, the risk level fell into a risk level IV, which represents a section with high risk. Subsequently, a secondary interval risk assessment method was performed based on engineering geological conditions and construction conditions. The risk level of water inrush is reduced to a risk level II. The results agreed with the current tunnel situation, which verified the reliability of this approach.

Human Health Risk Assessment Strategy to Evaluate Non-carcinogenic Adverse Health Effect from Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon at POL-Contaminated Sites in Korea (국내 유류오염지역에서의 석유계총탄화수소에 의한 비발암 인체위해성평가 전략)

  • Park, In-Sun;Park, Jae-Woo
    • Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
    • /
    • v.16 no.4
    • /
    • pp.10-22
    • /
    • 2011
  • Human health risk assessment for petroleum, oil and lubricant (POL) contaminated sites is challenging as total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) is not a single compound but rather a mixture of numerous substances. To address this concern, several TPH fractionation approaches have been proposed and used as an effective management tool for the POL-contaminated sites in many countries. In Korea, there are also recognized needs to establish a reliable and cost-effective human health risk assessment strategy based on the TPH fractionation method. In order to satisfy the social and institutional demand, this study suggested that the comprehensive risk assessment strategy based on a newly modified TPH fractionation method with 10 fractions, the Korean Standard Test Method (KSTM)-based analytical protocol and a stepwise risk assessment framework should be introduced into the domestic contaminated land management system. Under the proposed strategy, POL-contaminated sites can be effectively managed in terms of human health protection, and remedial cost and time can be determined reasonably. In addition, more researches required to increase our understanding of environmental risks and improve the domestic management system were proposed.

Risk-informed design optimization method and application in a lead-based research reactor

  • Jiaqun Wang;Qianglong Wang;Jinrong Qiu;Jin Wang;Fang Wang;Yazhou Li
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
    • /
    • v.55 no.6
    • /
    • pp.2047-2052
    • /
    • 2023
  • Risk-informed approach has been widely applied in the safety design, regulation, and operation of nuclear reactors. It has been commonly accepted that risk-informed design optimization should be used in the innovative reactor designs to make nuclear system highly safe and reliable. In spite of the risk-informed approach has been used in some advanced nuclear reactors designs, such as Westinghouse IRIS, Gen-IV sodium fast reactors and lead-based fast reactors, the process of risk-informed design of nuclear reactors is hardly to carry out when passive system reliability should be integrated in the framework. A practical method for new passive safety reactors based on probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) and passive system reliability analyze linking is proposed in this paper. New three-dimension frequency-consequence curve based on risk concept with three variables is used in this method. The proposed method has been applied to the determination optimization of design options selection in a 10 MWth lead-based research reactor(LR) to obtain one optimized system design in conceptual design stage, using the integrated reliability and probabilistic safety assessment program RiskA, and the computation resources and time consumption in this process was demonstrated reasonable and acceptable.

Development of Background Exposure Effect of Harmful Pollutants Using Population Risk Assessment in Ulsan (인구집단 위해도 평가 방법을 활용한 유해화학물질 배경 노출 영향 보정 방법 개발 -울산공단주변을 대상으로-)

  • Nam Goung, Sun Ju;Lee, Cheol Min;Lee, Hye Won;Park, Si Hyun;Lim, Hui Been;Choi, Kil Yong
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
    • /
    • v.45 no.3
    • /
    • pp.231-237
    • /
    • 2019
  • Objective: The objective of this study was to propose a method using population risk to assess the local background exposure effect of harmful pollutants from chemical accidents in Ulsan. Methods: The benzene was selected as representative harmful pollutant. The concentrations of benzene were measured and analyzed at 40 sites in Ulsan city in September, 2018. The data from National Statistics office in Korea were used for population density, and the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) data from US EPA were used for unit risk. Results: The risk assessment can be carried out by considering the background population risk. The background population risk was calculated as 5.01 persons per million for exposure to benzene in Ulsan, and therefore may be used as a adjusted background method in case of chemical accident caused by benzene. Conclusions: This study may provide the evidence that background exposure effect and risk to harmful pollutants from chemical accidents would be useful.

Evidence-Based Benefit-Risk Assessment of Medication (근거에 기반한 의약품의 유익성-위해성 평가)

  • Lee, Eui-Kyung
    • The Journal of Health Technology Assessment
    • /
    • v.1 no.1
    • /
    • pp.22-26
    • /
    • 2013
  • Objectives: Balancing benefits and risks through the drug life cycle has been discussed for many decades. The objective of this study was to review the processes and tools currently proposed for benefit-risk assessment of medicinal drugs. It aimed to establish scientific and efficient drug safety management system based on the synthetic analysis of benefit-risk evidence. Methods: We conducted a review of exiting literatures published by regulatory agencies or initiatives. Not only quantitative methodologies but also qualitative method were compared to understand their key characteristics for the benefit and risk assessment of drugs. Results: Recently, benefit-risk assessments have more structured approaches to decision making as part of regulatory science. Regulatory agencies such as European Medicines Agency, FDA have prepared plans to apply benefit-risk assessment to regulatory decision making. Also many initiatives such as IMI (Innovative Medicine Initiative) have conducted research and published reports about benefit-risk assessment. For benefit-risk assessment, four kinds of methods are necessary. Frameworks such as BRAT (Benefit Risk Action Team) framework, PrOACT-URL provide guidance for the whole process of decision-making. Metrics are measurements of risk benefit. The estimation techniques are methods to synthesis and combine evidences from various sources. The utility survey techniques are necessary to explicit preferences of various outcome from stakeholders. Conclusion: There is the lack of widely accepted, validated model for benefit-risk assessment. Nor there is an agreement among academia, industry, and government on methods for the quantitative valuation. It is also limited by available evidence and underlying assumptions. Nevertheless, benefit-risk assessment is fundamental to improve transparency, consistency and predictability for decision making through the structured systematic approaches.

Development of the Risk Assessment Model for Train Collision and Derailment (열차 충돌/탈선사고 위험도 평가모델 개발)

  • Choi, Don-Bum;Wang, Jong-Bae;Kwak, Sang-Log;Park, Chan-Woo;Kim, Min-Su
    • Proceedings of the KSR Conference
    • /
    • 2008.06a
    • /
    • pp.1518-1523
    • /
    • 2008
  • Train collision and derailment are types of accident with low probability of occurrence, but they could lead to disastrous consequences including loss of lives and properties. The development of the risk assessment model has been called upon to predict and assess the risk for a long time. Nevertheless, the risk assessment model is recently introduced to the railway system in Korea. The classification of the hazardous events and causes is the commencement of the risk assessment model. In previous researches related to the classification, the hazardous events and causes were classified by centering the results. That classification was simple, but might not show the root cause of the hazardous events. This study has classified the train collision and derailment based on the relevant hazardous event including faults of the train related the accidents, and investigates the causes related to the hazardous events. For the risk assessment model, FTA (fault tree analysis) and ETA (event tree analysis) methods are introduced to assess the risk.

  • PDF

A Case Study on the Improvement of Risk Assessment by Worker-Oriented Safety Circle Discussion in Construction Industry by the Survey (설문조사에 의한 근로자 중심의 안전분임토의를 통한 건설업 위험성 평가 개선방안 사례연구)

  • Kim, Jeung Hun;Oh, Tae Keun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
    • /
    • v.31 no.5
    • /
    • pp.82-88
    • /
    • 2016
  • The current risk assessment system do not reflect workers' various opinion. However, the worker actually are in the center of work field and are exposed to accidents. In this regard, this study suggests enhanced risk assessment by 'safety circle discussion' on workers' hand. The self-administered surveys on supervisors and workers were done for the effect analysis of the safety circle discussion. According to the question investigation, even though the current risk assessment causes difficulties in preventing accidents by unsafe behaviors, the worker-oriented safety circle discussion establishing measures for risk factors of each work type will be able to prevent accidents more effectively. Also, it can positively contribute to safety health awareness, industrial accident prevention, accurate recognition on risk factors, improving safety facilities/work conditions, workers' compliance to safety health rules. Lastly, most respondents agreed that it is necessary to form organic relationship through circle discussion and deriving safety inspections that workers participate.

Risk Assessment for Retrofitting a Ballast Water Treatment System on an Exising Vessel (현존선에 선박 평형수 처리장치를 설치를 위한 위험도 평가 분석)

  • JEE, Jae-Hoon;OH, Cheol
    • Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
    • /
    • v.28 no.6
    • /
    • pp.1602-1613
    • /
    • 2016
  • Since Ballast Water Management Convention has been adopted, Ballast Water Management Convention is not effected yet. This convention will only enter into force 12 months after its ratification by 30 states, collectively representing 35% of world merchant shipping tonnnage. Morocco, Indonesia and Ghana have ratified this convention during last 29th IMO Assembly meeting which was held in November 2015. In 2016, Belgium, Fiji, Saint Lucia and Peru have become the latest countries to ratify the convention. As of now, 51 states and 34.87% combined merchant fleets are being calculated. BWM convention will be applied to not only new ships but also, existing ships after it is effected. Thus, existing vessel will be retrofitted a Ballast Water Treatment System according to D-2 Requirement until first IOPP nenewal survey after date of entry into force of the convention. Currently, about 65 BWTSs certified by Administration will be reported to IMO, even type of BWTSs is very various. Thus, a risk of each BWTS can be existed, and this existed risk can be also effected to ship's crew safety and protection of ship's own property. Therefore, we have evaluated a risk assessment for an existing vessel retrofitting an ultra violet type Ballast Water Treatment System which is mostly developed in the world. And we described the procedure of selecting a sample vessel, consequently, bulk carrier is selected because this vessel kind is mostly charged in the world. Especially, DWT 175K size is selected. Risk Assessment is using a HAZID and HAZOP method, evaluation method is referred to IMO Document "Considerated test of the Guidelines for Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) for use in the IMO rule-marking process(MSC/Circ.1203-MEPC/Circ.392)". The Risk Assessment Section is decided to 3 Nodes, Consequently, total risks have evaluated 51 items.