Safety and Risk Assessment

Now in Safety and Risk Assessment

What’s New in Design Safety

With higher safety levels now both achievable and economical, the engineer’s role in delivering design safety has broadened considerably. At his or her disposal are a host of new objective analytic techniques to identify hidden hazards and potential problems, determine design countermeasures and remedies, and assess and categorize residual risk. But with these new tools comes a responsibility to manage the consequences of interjecting protective mechanisms and safety devices.

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Knowledgebase

Deconstructing <br>the Deepwater <br>Horizon Blowout

Deconstructing the Deepwater Horizon Blowout

The explosion on the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig drilling platform on April 20, 2010, which took eleven lives and spread an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has focused attention on why and how the Cameron blowout-preventer at BP’s Macondo project failed. This article explains how the high pressure at great ocean depths impacts drilling and offers congressional hearing testimony.

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Knowledgebase

Inspectors Harness <br>the Power of Probability

Inspectors Harness the Power of Probability

The power-generation and petroleum industries have had success employing risk-based inspection, a tool by which they use the probability of equipment failure to decide when and how often to conduct inspections. Hoping to share the risk-based approach’s safety and cost-savings gains with other industries, members of ASME’s Committee on Post Construction and its Subcommittee on Inspection Planning have developed PCC-3-2007.

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Groups

Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division (SERAD)

SERAD's function is to stimulate interest in and disseminate risk analysis and safety information as applied to the process of mechanical engineering. Member activity has expanded to include product liability, loss prevention and occupational health.

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Safety and Risk Assessment though very different, are fundamental to engineering. Safety is the avoidance of injuries and illnesses, especially in workplaces and transportation. Risk assessment is the study of consequences, likely or unlikely, and their potential costs in compensation for errors and harm, in litigation that can run for many years, and damage to the reputations of individuals and organizations. Safety is oriented toward operations while risk assessment focuses on projects.