Risk management differing standards

This is confusing. Why don t risk assessors simply decide what level of exposure is safe for each chemical, and risk managers simply put into effect mechanisms to ensure that industry reaches the safe level Why should different sources of risk be treated differently Why apply a no risk standard to certain substances (e.g., those intentionally introduced into food, such as aspartame) and an apparently more lenient risk-henefit standard to unwanted contaminants of food such as PCBs, methylmercury, and aflatoxins (which the FDA applies under another section of food law) Why allow technological limitations to influence any decision about health What is this risk-henefit balancing nonsense Aren t some of these statutes simply sophisticated mechanisms to allow polluters to expose people to risk ... 

The shutdown safety plan (SSP) is an extension of an outage operational plan and covers the risk management considerations. The SSP should describe possible recovery actions considering systems and equipment which are or may be available at different periods during an outage. Also use of external resources and non-standard systems for accident mitigation should be described. 

There are several different definitions of risk and risk management. In this study these terms are defined according to the AS/NZS 4360 2004 Risk Management Standard Risk is the chance of something happening that will have an impact on objectives. Risk is measured in terms of consequences and likelihood. The AS/NZS 4360 Risk Management Standard also emphasizes that risk may have a positive or negative impact (AS/NZS 4360 2004 2004). 

Risk management is another term which has many different meanings. According to the AS/NZS 4360 Risk Management Standard, risk management involves the culture, processes and structures that are directed towards realizing potential opportunities whilst managing adverse effects. 

The AS/NZS 4360 Risk Management Standard represents a risk management process which may be used in any kind of organizations. It is noticeable that risk management may be implemented at different levels of organizations, for instance at the strategic and operational levels. 

In this section we propose an implementation of the most important part of the Plan phase consisting in the definition of an appropriate global management plan QSE. Our idea is to use the risk management as integrating factor and to consider the different interactions between policies, objectives and resources of the quality, security and environment standards. We first give a brief overview on related work. 

Some organizations use the term enterprise risk management to emphasize the wide array of risks they must recognize and manage. The organizations may have a complex set of activities. A way to create a standardized approach is to apply risk analysis and risk management to widely different functions within the organization. 

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (HSW Act), 1974, instituted a system of enforced self-regulation which placed primary responsibility for health and safety with industry. It charged companies with risk management responsibilities which ideally involved companies in developing risk management systems and rules to secure compliance and also entailed worker participation (Ch. 6). But, as Dawson et al. (1988 44) warn, the creation of health and safety structures and procedures within a company is an imperfect measure which does not in itself indicate an improvement in health and safety. Indeed their own case studies demonstrated that compliance with the formalities did not necessarily indicate a serious and established concern to improve standards of health and safety (1988 87). There is therefore a need to consider the impact of these structures in terms of the difference they make at an everyday level. As Stone (1975) comments, the key task is to make bureaucracies think like responsible individuals, so the systems and decision-making processes they institute are critical. 

This area of safety and risk management requires speeialized skills and knowledge in the selection and installation of appropriate equipment. Standards and up-to-date advice from technically qualified people must be sought before carrying out aity activities in flammable atmospheres. Various recognized testing agencies certify equipment for different classes of flammable environments. 

The next step is to create a Management Plan that shows what actions are to be taken to ensure comphance with both the rule, or standard, and the corresponding guidance. If the company uses specific risk-management standards, such as consequence/frequency matrices, then they should be incorporated into the Plan. One of the most important parts of the Risk-Management Plan will be an evaluation of the different areas of operation, and a determination as to which areas should be addressed first... 

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