Decision-making needs

In reality, decisions about public health are often made on the basis of politics rather than science. If this were not so, more resources would be committed to controlling food poisoning relating to micro-organisms and less to relatively minor health hazards such as pesticides and environmental contaminants. Political decision-making needs to balance the needs of public health against legitimate consumer expectations. 

The aim of this section is to describe the company s safety governance structure and processes and specifically its stated and well-articulated safety policy and philosophy. This section should also clearly state the objectives of the system safety program. Who and how safety decisions are approved needs to be overtly declared this so that all can understand that safety decisions are made consciously and not by default or inaction. Safety decision making needs to be part of the fabric of company operations and not just an afterthought or only check the box compliance. This section also describes the process and periodicity of updating the SMS and republishing the SSPP. 

Each category of information considered essential for decision making needs to be translated into an indicator. As indicated in table 6.4, indicators are numerical measurements of program inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes typically expressed as levels (for example, the number of beneficiaries in the program as of a specific date), proportions (for instance, the percentage of beneficiaries paid on time), or ratios (such as the number of nutrition education sessions held per amount spent). 

Table E-1 outlines various operational deflnitions of an ecosystem, and Table E-2 deflnes various ecosystem approaches. When these are reviewed it becomes apparent that, despite minor differences in detail and wording, they all encompass physical, biological, and chemical properties while focusing on air, water, soil, and biota. In response to decision-making needs and concerns, the classical ecological deflnitions have been expanded to include speciflc reference to human beings as an integral part of the biological community and the flexible nature of ecosystem spatial boundaries.

The first application of the Gaussian distribution is in medical decision making or diagnosis. We wish to determine whether a patient is at risk because of the high cholesterol content of his blood. We need several pieces of input information an expected or normal blood cholesterol, the standard deviation associated with the normal blood cholesterol count, and the blood cholesterol count of the patient. When we apply our analysis, we shall anive at a diagnosis, either yes or no, the patient is at risk or is not at risk. 

However, ia some cases, the answer is not clear. A variety of factors need to be taken iato consideration before a clear choice emerges. Eor example, UOP s Molex and IsoSiv processes are used to separate normal paraffins from non-normals and aromatics ia feedstocks containing C —C2Q hydrocarbons, and both processes use molecular sieve adsorbents. However, Molex operates ia simulated moving-bed mode ia Hquid phase, and IsoSiv operates ia gas phase, with temperature swiag desorption by a displacement fluid. The foUowiag comparison of UOP s Molex and IsoSiv processes iadicates some of the primary factors that are often used ia decision making ... 

Decision Process. In many cases, the decision regarding the need for exposure reduction measures is obvious and no formal statistical procedure is necessary. However, as exposure criteria are lowered, and control becomes more difficult, close calls become more common, and a logical decision-making process is needed. A typical process is shown in Eigure 2. Even when decision making is easy it is useful to remember the process and the assumptions involved. Based on an evaluation, decisions are made regarding control. The evaluation and decision steps caimot be separated because the conduct of the evaluation, the strategy, measurement method, and data collection are all a part of the decision process. 

Desire to Be Independent Yet Collaborate. Technical professionals are achievement-oriented and derive motivation from the work itself. This often means a need for increased participation in decision-making, as well as a natural skepticism and resistance to rapid changes in direction and tight control by managers. Collaboration and the desire for some form of teamwork also are a part of the professional s nature. 

An important part of the decision-making tool flow chart (see Fig. 1) is the redefinition of the specifications by the sensor customer after the surveying and testing of commercial sensor systems. This process almost always involves a downgrading of the expectations of the sensor customer, but it can also force a reaUstic evaluation of what sensor information really needs to be made available and at what cost. 

The checklist is a tool to help obtain the information needed for internal decision making. The decision to approve the facility for continued use should be based on a number of factors including but not limited to the facility s ability to ... 

Step f considers all of the background information discussed in Section 2.f. If the information requirement is based on a regulatory concern or a special purpose need, then Steps 2 through 5 are bypassed and a QRA should be performed. If the information is needed for decision making, you must determine whether the significance of the decision warrants the expense of a QRA. If not, you may be able to use less resource-intensive qualitative approaches to satisfy your information requirements. Table 8 contains examples of typical conclusions reached from qualitative risk analysis results. 

Many sophisticated models and correlations have been developed for consequence analysis. Millions of dollars have been spent researching the effects of exposure to toxic materials on the health of animals the effects are extrapolated to predict effects on human health. A considerable empirical database exists on the effects of fires and explosions on structures and equipment. And large, sophisticated experiments are sometimes performed to validate computer algorithms for predicting the atmospheric dispersion of toxic materials. All of these resources can be used to help predict the consequences of accidents. But, you should only perform those consequence analysis steps needed to provide the information required for decision making. 

Define a method for determining whether QRA can (or is needed to) help your decision making... 

For a plant design problem, students will need guidance on the hierarchical levels of decision making to choose a process. Also checklists of information needed for the design of typical parts of commercial processes prove invaluable. These are provided in Dr. Long s student handout. 

These criteria would need to be varied depending on whether the items being supplied were in batches or separate. However, these are the kind of decisions you need to make in order to apply practical receipt inspection procedures. 

The decision on product acceptance is a relatively simple one because there is a specification against which to judge conformance. When product is found to be nonconforming there are three decisions you need to make based on the following questions ... 

As process plants become more complex, it becomes apparent that it is not possible to rely exclusively on the process worker s skills and memory required to perform the task. Job aids and procedures are devices which aim to reduce the need for human retention of procedures and references as well as the amount of decision making required. Job aids assume a variety of formats including flowcharts, checklists, decision tables, etc., while procedures refer to other systems of documentation such as standard operating instmctions and emergency procedures. 

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