Risk Assessment and Risk Communication in Civil Engineering
SAFETY, RISK, RELIABILITY - TRENDS IN ENGINEERING
MALTA 2001
Risk Assessment and Risk Communication in Civil Engineering
Ton VROUWENVELDER Professor TNO/TU Delft Delft, The Netherlands Roger LOVEGROVE Mathematician BRE Watford, UK Gerard CANISIUS Civl Engineer BRE Watford, UK Milan HOLICKY Civil Engineer Klockner Institute Prague, Czech Rep.
Peter TANNER Civil Engineer CSIC Madrid, Spain
Summary
This paper summarises parts of a study carried out by Working Group WG32 of CIB into presently applied methods of risk management related to civil engineering and building structures. The complete study is reported in CIB Publication 259. The report gives an overview of advanced and simplified risk analysis techniques and criteria for risk acceptance. Then attention is given to the aspects of communication with the public and the authorities. Finally a number of practical cases are discussed. The cases are used to evaluate the theoretical issues of the first chapters. This conference paper concentrates primarily on the acceptance and communication aspects. Keywords: Risk management, risk analysis, risk acceptance, risk communication
1.
Introduction
To an engineer, the “risk” associated with a hazard is a combination of the probability that that hazard will occur and the consequences of that hazard. Consequences to be considered include injury or loss of life, reconstruction costs, loss of economic activity, environmental losses, etc. In all cases, the safety issue has to be addressed either explicitly or implicitly. When explicitly addressed, safety targets are set in terms of the maximum acceptable risks. However, it is not the engineer who makes the decision about acceptance of riskful civil engineering activities. Decisions are being made by politicians who on their turn are influenced by the press, the public opinion, pressure groups and so on. As a consequence there is a need for communication about risks between the various parties involved. The
MALTA 2001
Risk Assessment and Risk Communication in Civil Engineering
Ton VROUWENVELDER Professor TNO/TU Delft Delft, The Netherlands Roger LOVEGROVE Mathematician BRE Watford, UK Gerard CANISIUS Civl Engineer BRE Watford, UK Milan HOLICKY Civil Engineer Klockner Institute Prague, Czech Rep.
Peter TANNER Civil Engineer CSIC Madrid, Spain
Summary
This paper summarises parts of a study carried out by Working Group WG32 of CIB into presently applied methods of risk management related to civil engineering and building structures. The complete study is reported in CIB Publication 259. The report gives an overview of advanced and simplified risk analysis techniques and criteria for risk acceptance. Then attention is given to the aspects of communication with the public and the authorities. Finally a number of practical cases are discussed. The cases are used to evaluate the theoretical issues of the first chapters. This conference paper concentrates primarily on the acceptance and communication aspects. Keywords: Risk management, risk analysis, risk acceptance, risk communication
1.
Introduction
To an engineer, the “risk” associated with a hazard is a combination of the probability that that hazard will occur and the consequences of that hazard. Consequences to be considered include injury or loss of life, reconstruction costs, loss of economic activity, environmental losses, etc. In all cases, the safety issue has to be addressed either explicitly or implicitly. When explicitly addressed, safety targets are set in terms of the maximum acceptable risks. However, it is not the engineer who makes the decision about acceptance of riskful civil engineering activities. Decisions are being made by politicians who on their turn are influenced by the press, the public opinion, pressure groups and so on. As a consequence there is a need for communication about risks between the various parties involved. The