ENGINEER 1P03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 20: Failure Mode And Effects Analysis, Engineering Management, Risk Perception

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Engineering (General)
• Course: ENGINEER 1P03
• Professor: Robert Fleisig

Document Summary

Managing and reducing risk and increasing its opposite, safety, are paramount engineering responsibilities. Hazards tend to increase in design because of factors such as greater complexity, greater use of toxic dangerous substance, higher speeds, pressure, etc. Risk management: structured approach for analyzing, evaluating and reducing risk. Hazard: anything that has the potential to cause death, property damage, financial waste, any undesirable consequence. The purpose of risk management is to reduce/ eliminate the danger caused by hazards. The three-step process: risk analysis: identify hazards or their undesirable consequences, and estimating the probability of their occurrence. It is objective and mathematical: risk evaluation (assessment): alternative courses of action to reduce hazards are generated, costs and benefits are calculated, risk perception of people affected is assessed and value judgments are made. Therefore, less objective than risk analysis: management decisions: selecting the risks that will be managed, implementing these decisions, allocating the required resources, and controlling, monitoring, reviewing and revising these.