Integrated Approach to Risk Management

Current European legislation in the field of technical equipment safety is based on Directive 42/2006/EC on machinery standards harmonization. According to the directive. Annex 1, Subsection 1.1.2, Paragraph b, a producer will  

The measures applied must be focused on the elimination of risks during the expected lifespan of machinery, including the time of transport, assembling, and disassembling, and the time of shutdown, disposal, or recycling. 

These requirements define the activities of a designer, manufacturer, and user of a machine, which include performing all the procedures within the risk control systems. This is based on the principle of application of the causal relation of accident or failure occurrence as a part of the risk control systems at all the stages of a machine s technological lifespan. 

The theory and application of systematic risk assessment is a part of effective risk control processes. Methods for risk assessment or estimation allow the quantification of the risks and, thus, provide top managers with relevant information for risk reduction within the Man-Machine-Environment system. The following theses form the basis for the risk assessment methods selection (see also Chapter 1)  

Absolute understanding of these principles and their application in practice, as well as mastering the respective risk assessment methods, faces in practical life a variety of problems, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises at which no specialists in the field are employed. 

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The emphasis on risk management is set to increase. A practical response must be to ensure a comprehensive and integrated approach to risk management that starts in the boardroom and cascades down through the whole organisation, its people and its activities. 

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