University Engineering Risk Analysis Report: Effectiveness Analysis

This report delves into the realm of engineering and social risk, focusing on the effectiveness of risk analysis within organizations. It begins by outlining the significance of risk analysis as an integral component of risk management, differentiating between qualitative and quantitative procedures. The report then explores the frequency of events and the application of event tree analysis, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages in identifying and mitigating risks. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to examining manufacturing failures, their root causes, and the associated risks, emphasizing the importance of effective communication, safety measures, and human factor considerations. The Fukushima nuclear disaster serves as a case study, illustrating the consequences of inadequate risk management and the critical need for robust evacuation plans. The report concludes by underscoring the unpredictable nature of risks and the importance of continuous improvement in risk analysis procedures.

Running head: ENGINEERING AND SOCIAL RISK
Engineering and Social risk
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1ENGINEERING AND SOCIAL RISK
Introduction
The report deals with the engineering and the social risk. The aim of the report is to
address the question, “How effective are the risk analysis carried out in organisation?” The
report highlights the risk analysis, frequency of events and event tress analysis followed by its
advantages and disadvantages. The report further discusses the manufacturing failure and risks
associated with it.
Risk management
Approaches, frequency and severity
Risk analysis is integral part of any organisation involve in the risk management. It
involves determining the level of risk. There are two methods of risk analysis including a
qualitative procedure (that is non-probabilistic) and a quantitative procedure (that is
probabilistic). The qualitative procedure is used to determine the likelihood of the risk, the
consequence of the risk, and development of the response to mitigate the risk. On the other hand
the quantitative procedure is based on the results of previously executed research and
observation. It is difficult to predict the high risk events as the events are rare (Bell et al. 2016).
Engineering process may lead to either catastrophic or maintenance events. The
catastrophic events are those with low frequency of occurrence, but with high severity. In short it
may lead to system failure. The event may result in plant damage or personal injury. The
frequency of maintenance events are high but have low severity. Events like system breakdown
and general faults in plant occurs frequently (Modarres 2016, Akgün et al. 2015);
Event tree analysis

2ENGINEERING AND SOCIAL RISK
Event tree analysis/fault tree is the logical modelling technique to determine the effect of
the functioning of the failed systems in a given event. This analysis helps an organisation to
deduce the cause of problem, identify failure and mitigate the same with linear thinking. An
organisation effectively conducting this process can improve system’s reliability. However, this
method has its own demerits. It is difficult to predict the failure and requires professionals. In
risk analysis an organisation most commonly avoids the human factors involved in risk. It
includes mental and physical limitations, psychological and sociological factors (Akgün et al.
2015).
Manufacturing failures
The main reason for these events can be attributed to poor communication between
decision makers, line management deficiencies, unsafe acts and inadequate deficiencies. To
manage the risk an organisation can engage architects and decision makers in fallable decisions.
The organisation should engage in effective communication system between the line
management to eliminate mistakes due to influential decisions. The system must take into
considerations the psychological precursor of the unsafe activities to prevent catastrophes events.
The organisation can effectively manage the risks by maintaining adequate safety measures in
place, and defense mechanism to avoid preventable accidents. Human errors occur due to poor
training of staff, violations of risk management procedure, slips and lapse of attention when
setting up effective management system. Mismatches occur due to assignment of work beyond
the capability of the staff, lack of advanced technology and poor communication (Gu, Jin and Ni
2015).

3ENGINEERING AND SOCIAL RISK
To discuss the risk occurrence let’s consider the example of Nuclear power plant. It must
be maintained in isolated place to prevent radiation exposure. It must be ensured that the
operating reactors are well shut down and cool down. In case of Fukushima nuclear disaster, the
Tsunami disabled emergency power control required for cooling pump. Failure to predict this
risk and maintain appropriate measures in place led to release of radioactive material from three
reactors. Upon investigation a fault in basic risk management and evacuation plan was observed
(Figueroa 2013).
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the discussion that despite precautions there are unpredictable
risks. In the above given example, the organisation did fail to effectively conduct the risk
analysis procedure that only reduced the chance of occurrence of event but did not completely
eliminate it.

4ENGINEERING AND SOCIAL RISK
References
Akgün, İ., Gümüşbuğa, F. and Tansel, B., 2015. Risk based facility location by using fault tree
analysis in disaster management. Omega, 52, pp.168-179.
Bell, J.E., Herring, S.C., Jantarasami, L., Adrianopoli, C., Benedict, K., Conlon, K., Escobar, V.,
Hess, J., Luvall, J., Garcia-Pando, C.P. and Quattrochi, D., 2016. Ch. 4: Impacts of
Extreme Events on Human Health (pp. 99-128). US Global Change Research Program,
Washington, DC.
Figueroa, P.M., 2013. Risk communication surrounding the Fukushima nuclear disaster: an
anthropological approach. Asia Europe Journal, 11(1), pp.53-64.
Gu, X., Jin, X. and Ni, J., 2015. Prediction of passive maintenance opportunity windows on
bottleneck machines in complex manufacturing systems. Journal of Manufacturing
Science and Engineering, 137(3), p.031017.
Modarres, M., 2016. Risk analysis in engineering: techniques, tools, and trends. CRC press.