Operational risk management recommendations

Since recommendations for improvement in an operational risk management system can be misdirected if the reality of hazards and the risks deriving from hazards is not identified, this subject should be emphasized in the weightings and scorings given in an audit system. 

Audits are highly recommended as performance measures. For the not-large operation, particularly, operational risk management audits should be one of the several measures selected to evaluate performance. 

DoD policy and doctrine are based on a uniformly defined range of low-level exposure. This range must address all military scenarios to appropriately determine policy, doctrine, research, and technological needs. Policy and doctrine should not arbitrarily dictate either the number or percentage of casualties that a commander can or should accept in order to complete a mission. The specific accepted risk should be determined by the commander(s), based on the situation and mission requirements. Operational risk management (ORM) is a fundamental aspect of military decision making. The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine (US ACHPPM) recommends using the ORM framework to define low-level exposures, and thus low-risk exposures. 

A risk perception tool has been used to develop an understanding of operational risk for a number of years. The US military has adopted the concept to address risk in its daily operations and activities. The model recommends that personal as well as operational risk as identified by leadership be part of the overall training in risk concepts (Operational Risk Management (ORM) Fundamentals, 2010 Operational Risk Management, Marine, 2002). 

Article 3(37) of REACH defines exposure scenarios as the set of conditions, including operational conditions and risk management measures, that describe how the substance is manufactured or used during its life-cycle and how the manufacturer or importer controls, or recommends downstream users to control, exposures of humans and the environment [...] . 

The Army has programs for risk management, safety, and occupational and environmental health in place at its chemical stockpile disposal sites. The recommendations set forth below are provided with the committee s expectation that if they are carried out, workers employed in closure operations will be less likely to encounter the posited risks. 

Risk management is very important if appropriate resources are to be deployed in a timely fashion to mitigate or reduce the potential effect of identified risks. It is recommended that a risk map be produced showing where computer systems are used to support the various process streams of operational activity. 

The Navy, and with it the Joint Chemical and Biological Defense Program, should shift from a philosophy dominated by contamination avoidance toward an approach based on risk management which assumes that contamination will happen and focuses on managing the response. The foundation for a risk management approach should come from the doctrine development efforts at the Navy Warfare Development Command (as recommended in Chapter 3 of this report) and from the results of the operational net assessments in each area of responsibility (as recommended in Chapter 3). 

This is a defacto acceptance of certain risk management methods and decisions of other countries. The recommendation is likely to have a profound effect on multinational companies operating in India, and, if adopted by other developing Countries, then the effect will be felt internationally. As an initial step in this direction, the EC has introduced a regulation [19] on the export of banned or severely restricted chemicals which requires the Prior Informed Consent of the receiving country. 

The chemical safety assessment has to consider the manufacture or preparation of the substance as well as all identified uses. An identified use is a use of a substance or preparation containing it that is intended by a person involved in the supply chain or that is made known to him in writing by an immediate downstream user. The assessment shall consider all stages of the life cycle of the substance resulting from its manufacture and identified uses. The assessment has to be based on a comparison of the potential adverse effects of the substance with the known or reasonably foreseeable exposure of man or the environment, taking into account implemented and recommended risk management measures and operational conditions. 

Risk Management Plans should be established prior to cutover in order to define the fallback measures to be taken in the event that the system fails to perform within the operational environment. Risk management strategies may include parallel running of manual or legacy systems, interim manual systems or fallback to the previous versions. Whenever possible, a phased cutover from manual or legacy systems is recommended. 

The MMS s Safety and Environmental Management Program (SEMP) was developed in response to the 1990 finding of the National Research Council s Marine Board that MMS s prescriptive approach to regulating offshore operations had forced industry into a compliance mentality. The Marine Board found further that this compliance mentality was not conducive to effectively identify all the potential operational risks or developing comprehensive accident mitigation. As a result, the Marine Board recommended and MMS concurred that a more systematic approach to managing offshore operations was needed. 

The WHO Guidelines (2004) devote an entire chapter to the topic of drinking water safety planning. It is recommended that a risk assessment and risk management approach should be implemented in the design and operation of water supply systems, additional to the verification of water safety by sampling. The risk assessment and risk management approach should extend from source to tap , that is, the entire water supply chain. This is considered further in Chapter 6 in the context of risk assessment in plumbosolvency control. 

European eco-labeling of paper products, and in the existing European eco-labeling for cleaners under Regulation 1980/2000/EC. In addition, the EU Commission made further recommendations on risk reduction measures for EDTA. First, it asked EU Member States to establish Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for EDTA, and the national pollution reduction measures to achieve those EQS in 2015 should be included in the river basin management plans in line with the provisions of Directive 2000/60/EC. Second, EU Member States should specify in IPPC permits measures on EDTA to operate to BAT by October 2007, taking into account local circumstances. Further, as BAT is developed, this should be incorporated into the permits. 

---