SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT

Safety and Risk Management

Safety and Risk Management

Introduction

In the pursuit of excellence, many corporations in the 1990s are developing and implementing strategies in effectively serving customers through their products or services and improving their operational performance to compete strongly in the marketplace. These strategies focus on the vision, mission, core values, goals and objectives. For example, The China Light & Power Company, Limited has established its mission as to provide the community of Kowloon and New Territories (in Hong Kong) with an essential service by converting primary energy into electricity in the most efficient and cost effective way, while minimizing the effect on the environment.

The electricity generated is then to be efficiently transmitted and distributed to customers so as to provide them with the highest quality of service in terms of a safe, secure and reliable supply of electricity. Similarly, the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) of Hong Kong has identified three core values, namely, customer service, respect to individuals, and on time and within budget, in developing their strategies for fulfilling the aim of meeting the highest standards of safety, reliability and efficiency in providing customer services to passengers.

Also, some of the goals and objectives to accomplish the stated mission or vision are centred on the safety, health, reliability, on time and within budget, and the environmental issues as they impact the customers, employees, shareholders, and the people at-large, as well as the business internal operations performance. This is particularly true for public utility corporations including the transportation and electric power generation and distribution companies. For example, a transmission line operated at 400kV, 132kV, or 66kV to transport electric power from generating stations to bulk supply to subsequent distribution centres could be damaged by a tornado or a typhoon resulting in not only the interruption of electricity supply to customers but also in safety and health risks to people.

Similarly, flooding of basement housing transformers due to severe rains in a typhoon season could interrupt the supply of electricity for several households. Any mechanical failure to the door handling system for a train carriage may squash passengers or trap fingers of passengers while the doors are closed. Or, the doors may not open or be closed properly, or they may open while the train is moving. All these events cause safety risks to passengers. Also, they cause train service interruptions/delays affecting customer satisfaction and excessive operational and maintenance costs.

The risk management process

Tummala et al. have proposed a comprehensive and systematic approach consisting of five core elements as shown in Figure 1 and referred to as the risk management process (RMP). The RMP begins with identifying the strategic importance of a project together with the associated project mission, aims, and objectives; these will of course form an integral part of the business strategy. The resulting strategy arising from the integration of all these elements, overall corporate, would constitute the driver of the RMP methodology.

Risk identification, risk measurement, and risk assessment together constitute the basic set of tools required ...