Risk & Safety

Useful risk management is not about maximizing safety, but finding the right balance between risk and safety, progress and consolidation, costs and benefits. But human risk perception is far away from rationality. In practice, many risk management procedures increase in first order officialism, bureaucracy and paperwork, but not necessarily safety. Failures and accidents happen regularly due to wrong decisions, design flaws, bad workmanship and erroneous operation. In a world of limited resources, huge funds are wasted for useless safety measures that don't even work, when subsequent financial pressure leads to omitting of substantial precautions, such as proper analysis and thorough testing. This book describes some of the risk management issues encountered in practice, based on first-hand insight, and provides motivational thoughts and suggestions how to improve risk related decision-making under uncertainty, based on proven engineering principles. At least, it shall provide some food for thought - to be perceived 'cum grano salis'.