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“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.”

Albert Einstein < http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9810.Albert_Einstein >

With the many titles of books on risk assessment that have been written, Fred Manuele recognized that there was a need for a fundamental guide for assessing operational risk. As a member of the Advisory Board to the Safety Sciences Program at the University of Central Missouri (UCM), Mr. Manuele challenged Dr. Georgi Popov at UCM, Bruce Lyon and Bruce Hollcroft who previously worked for Manuele to write such a text. Dr. Popov teaches occupational risk assessment, and like Lyon and Hollcroft, performs numerous risk assessments, simple to complex, for a wide range of industries. The challenge was accepted.

This second edition of Risk Assessment: A Practical Guide to Assessing Operational Risks provides the fundamentals on risk assessment, with many practical applications, for undergraduate and graduate students and employed safety, health, and environmental professionals who recognize that they are expected to have risk assessment capabilities.

This book fills a void. In recent years, risk assessment has been given more prominence as an element in operational risk management systems. This text serves the needs of professors at a university level who recognize that their students have knowledge and capability with respect to risk assessment, while addressing seven of the ABET criteria for safety programs. In addition, the book serves as a primer for employed safety professionals who need a practical guide on various risk assessment techniques.

The authors envisioned a new format for this book; one which includes interactive exercises, links, videos, and supplemental risk assessment tools. The content of this book has been significantly impacted by events that have occurred that give greater prominence to risk assessment. Some of these include:

1 In 1995, the National Safety Council created an entity known as the Institute for Safety through Design. The core of safety through design is hazard identification and analysis and risk assessment.

2 In 2006, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) began consideration of what became a major initiative on Prevention through Design (PtD). The intent of the initiative was to encourage organizations to have processes in place to address occupational hazards and risks in the design and redesign processes. Doing so requires making risk assessments as a continuum as the design process moves forward.

3 A European led drive to have risk assessment be recognized as the cornerstone of an occupational risk management system is having an impact in the United States. In 2011, the American National Standard Institute approved a petition made by the American Society of Safety Engineers to adopt three standards on risk management developed by International Standards Organization. One of those standards has become known as ANSI/ASSE Z690.3, Risk Assessment Techniques. That standard is receiving broad attention and it was updated in 2018.

4 A new American National Standard on PtD was adopted on September 1. 2011. A significant portion of the standard is devoted to risk assessment.

5 Educators are developing new courses related to PtD and new risk assessment tools. A chapter in this book is devoted to PtD.

6 Many industries have applied Lean Concepts to reduce waste, improve efficiency, and lower production costs. Lean Six Sigma concepts and risk assessment tools can be applied in the environmental, safety and service fields.

7 Ergonomics‐related losses account for at least 1/3 of all lost time incidents and nearly half of the insurance costs. A chapter addressing risk assessment of ergonomic risk is included.

8 For many years, businesses have been operating with tight budgets and continuously seek ways to reduce costs, among which are accident costs. One of the chapters will address risk assessment and business continuity plans.

9 In June 2013, the American Society of Safety Professionals recognized the significance of risk assessment by launching its Risk Assessment Institute. The Risk Assessment Institute transformed to a permanent Risk Assessment Committee.

10 A risk assessment process enables the safety professional to properly deal with hazards when there are little or no applicable regulations, standards, or guidelines. It also enables organizations to make better business decisions by prioritizing hazards and their resulting risk. This makes risk assessment an ‘essential’ skill for the safety, health and environmental professional.

The text begins with laying the ground work in Chapters 1 through 4. Chapter 1. Risk Assessment: Their Significance presents a brief overview on risk assessment, followed by comments on the importance of the Prevention though Design standard. Chapter 2. Risk Assessment Standards and Definitions, Chapter 3. Risk Assessment Fundamentals and Chapter 4. Defining Risk Assessment Criteria provide the basis of the risk assessment process.

Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 introduce the reader to fundamental risk assessment methods beginning with hazard identification and analysis methods such as job hazard analysis, what‐if analysis, preliminary hazard analysis (PHA), and fundamental risk assessment techniques such as failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA).

More specialized methods including Bow‐Tie Analysis, Layers of Controls Analysis, PtD tools and Design Safety Reviews, and Industrial Hygiene (IH) methods are presented in Chapters 9 through 12.

Chapter 13 targets machinery risks, while Chapter 14 provides methodologies of assessing project‐related risks such as construction, maintenance and other high‐risk activities. Chapter 15 provides a primer on HACCP and food safety risks, while Chapter 16 presents more advanced measures in assessing ergonomic risk factors. Chapter 17 provides a board approach to assessing risks at an organizational level.

The final three chapters provide the reader concepts and methods of incorporating risk assessment in environmental management systems (Chapter 18), the inclusion of business continuity aspects in the risk assessment process (Chapter 19), and Risk Communication (Chapter 20). In addition, ABET accreditation criteria state that graduates must demonstrate the application of business and risk management concepts. Therefore, Chapter 19, Business Continuity is devoted to supporting this criteria requirement.

For safety students who seek employment, being able to say that they have been indoctrinated in the subjects that are currently important to management is an advantage. For employed safety professionals, being able to demonstrate that they have taken the initiative to acquire the new knowledge and skills that emerging opportunities require gives the impression of serving management needs.

This practical guide serves both the student and the safety professional in developing foundations in risk assessment. It is the authors’ hope that this text will challenge the Occupational Safety and Health professional in becoming more competent and creative in their application of assessing, defining and managing operational risks.