Risk Management

Fundamentals
What is Risk Management?
How Do We Manage Risk?
 avoid or eliminate
 regulate the use of the substance
 reducing the vulnerability of people
 develop mitigation and recovery procedures after
the event
 institute schemes to reimburse the redistribute
losses
Dr. William Haddon:
 10 ways to manage risk
 prevent creation of hazard
 reduce the amount of hazard
 prevent the release of the hazard
 modify rate and distribution of hazard
 separate human from hazard
 put up barrier
 modify the hazard
 make human more resistant
 counter damage done
 stabilize, repair and rehabilitate
cont’d
 10 ways to manage risk
 make human more resistant
 counter damage done
 stabilize, repair and rehabilitate
Who Manages Risk?
 the individual
 the legislature
 government departments
 administrative bodies
 industrial organizations
 public utilities
 energy, water, food
How do they manage
Risk?
 regulatory intervention
 common law
 self regulation
What risks to Manage?
 for most risks the question is not “how” we reduce
them but “whether” we reduce them
 risk management does not exist in a social
vacuum
 must consider:
 feasibility
 cost
 inconvenience
Management of Risk
 Depends on;
 public perceptions
 People’s knowledge of the topic
 public opinion
 Emotional reaction to the topic/already formed
 scientific measurement
 Does science ever make mistakes?
 How is risk measured? Public might not understand
very well
 process of interaction
Different Types of Risk
 very high risk, with unacceptable consequences
 very low risk, with negligible consequences
 risks falling between these extremes, which
require management for maximum benefit
Two Lessons on Risk
 perceptions of the causes of loss can “prevent”
resources from being allocated effectively
 Government may feel risk is in higher in one area,
but public demands risk prevention in another area
 public perception will stall resource allocation at a
much higher level of risk than for others (use of
seat belts)
 If people don’t view the risk as high, they don’t want
control measures for it
 People view driving as safe, not risky, so don’t want
controls
Developing Risk
Management Options
 Regulation
 Economic measures
 Advisory measures
 Technological measures
Regulation
 most forceful option
 used when hazard is threatening
 used when hazard requires absolute adherence to
safety measures
 e.g. food safety
 We expect zero risk for food
Economic Measures
 liability insurance
 ensures parties affected by risk producing behaviour
of others are compensated for their losses
 E.g. car insurance rates go up for dangerous drivers
 Insurance covers medical bills for person hit by a car
 Levies (or other cost structures)
 polluter financed clean-up funds
 Large companies must have money to clean up spill
 waste disposal charges
 Fee for the amount of waste produced
 tax on tobacco (and other products viewed as
dangerous)
Economic Measures
(cont’d)
 Direct financial support or subsidies
 aid in developing new, risk reducing technologies
 All are used to help influence business decisions
Advisory Measures
 use when hazard can be reduced or controlled in
use
 e.g. crib construction
 can be directed to risk producer or risk consumer
 information and advice given
 product standards set
 voluntary control
Technological Measures
 if available, must negotiate for use
 must consider alternatives
 must consider cost effectiveness
Risk Management
 Analyzing Options
 how efficient is each option at reducing or
preventing the risk
 potential health benefits
 what resources will be required to implement the
option
 the capacity to carry it out
 is it consistent with public values
 cultural/social
 will it set undesirable precedent for future
Making the Decision
 Weigh the risk
 zero risk
 e.g. food additives
 de Minimus
 assumes low risk is trivial and need not be controlled
 hard to develop that level of risk (acceptable to
everyone)
 What is acceptable?
 1 in 100,000
 1 in 10,000
 1 in a million?
Making the Decision
(cont’d)
 Weigh the risk
 risk/risk analysis
 compares risk to background risk
 compares risk to comparable hazard risk
 compares to risk of alternative
 Comparative risk analysis
 compares risk to other known risk in same general
category
 Smoking tobacco vs smoking marijuana
 Driving cars vs driving motorcycles
Weigh the Technology
 best available technology
 unreasonably expensive
 what does “best” mean?
 once determined, no incentive to improve
 best practical technology
 curbs disproportionate spending on
technological solutions
 “practical” may be hard to define
 close to ALARA principle
 “As low as reasonably achievable”
Weighing Risks and
Benefits
 Cost Benefit Analysis
 Cost Effectiveness Analysis
 Cost Utility Analysis
 Risk Benefit Analysis
 Regulatory Impact Analysis Statements
Cost Benefit Analysis
 too impersonal
 not accepted by public for dread events
 weighs sums of money against the loss of lives
 How much do lives cost?
 forces systematic thought (logical)
 how much should we spend per life saved?
Cost Effectiveness
Analysis
 assumes resources are available
 decides where it is most effective to spend those
resources to get the greatest payback
 Education is expensive, but not effective
 Control at source is cheapest, and very effective
 considers quality and quantity of life
 Can we quantify?
 measures cost necessary to achieve a certain
endpoint
 it can be used to project and compare total costs
of options
Cost Utility Analysis
 broadest form of economic analysis
 measures general health status outcome
 needs a quality of life weighting system
 requires adequate outcome data
Risk-Benefit Analysis
 method to analyse all impacts on human health
 negative or positive
 reports impacts to help reach judgement
 can be qualitative or quantitative
Regulatory Impact
Statements
 required for every regulatory proposal
 Very common in every government system
 provides
 basic info about objectives of the proposal
 what non-regulatory alternatives were considered
 what consultation took place
 opinions expressed during consultation
 the likely social and economic impact of the proposal
 Risk Management

Control of Contamination
Approaches to Control
 prevention of health effects
 recent attitude
 requires problem anticipation
 not widely practiced
 retrofit approach was very common
 fix what is broken
 fix what is out of compliance
Controls
 Regulatory Control
 Administrative Controls
 Engineering Controls
Regulatory Control
 Ban (asbestos, DDT, Fluorocarbons in spray cans)
 Or Limit by specifying:
 permissible usages
 permissible operation times, discharge times, etc
 allowable concentrations
 permissible amounts of effluents
Regulatory Control - Bans
 appropriate when
 usage of a contaminant is not essential
 marginal benefit to use
 personal preference only
 e.g. fluorocarbon propellant in spray can
 also use when a less hazardous material is
available
 e.g. lead based white pigments banned because
titanium available
Regulatory Control -
Levels
 Federal
 National (Health Canada)
 Provincial
 NS Health
 NS Environment
 Municipal
 Smoking by-law
 Noise by-law
 Backyard burning by-law
 Illegal dumping by-law
Types of Regulations
 specify acceptable levels of contaminants
 air levels at stack
 -SOx
 community air concentrations
 workplace air concentrations
 TWAs ACGIH TLVs
 food quality
 Canadian food inspection guidelines
 Provincial food inspection
 water quality
 Canadian drinking water guidelines
Types of Regulations
 specify effluent standards
 determine work practices
 asbestos procedures
 designate analytical measurement techniques by
which to monitor regulated contaminants
Administrative Controls
 depends on ability of management to control
 contaminant release
 dispersion
 accessibility to contaminated area
 usually a workplace issue
 most successful when programs exist to motivate
and educate the workforce
Adminstrative Controls
 Employees need to be aware
 that they can affect their own exposures
 that they can affect community exposures by their
own actions
 of the consequences of their actions
 of the operation and maintenance of the equipment
 of how to cope with malfunctions
 of evacuation routes and procedures
Administrative Controls
 Training programs needed on PPE
 limitations
 selection
 when/why worn
 maintenance
 storage
Administrative Controls
 Management’s role
 education & encouragement
 human engineering/ergonomics
 incentives for positive efforts
 disincentives for poor performance
 limit access of personnel
 hypersensitive
 special training/PPE
 schedules/rotation
Engineering Controls
 most effective
 operating personnel need not be involved
 four types:
 substitution
 process modification
 isolation
 source controls
Substitution
 eliminate entirely
 substitute material less toxic
 possible when;
 solvent, pigment, insulator
 examples of material substitutions;
 benzene vs. toluene
 asbestsos vs. glass fibres
 sand vs. silicon carbide
Process Modification
 spraying vs. dipping
 sandblasting vs. hydroblasting
 soldering/welding vs. riveting, crimping
 diesel engines vs. battery powered engines
 mercury gauges vs. mechanical gauges
Isolation
 if can’t be eliminated, isolate
 prevent contact between people and contaminant
 isolate people or isolate source
 use PPE if source is diverse and the people few
 cheaper/easier to isolate source
 noise (enclosure)
 chemical (ventilation)
Source Controls
 most effective controls are at source
 farther from the source, the more difficult and
costly to control
 volume increases
 flow disperses
 co-contaminants interfere
 concentration decreases
Source Controls
 effluent controls
 remove contaminant from waste stream
 recycle when possible
 mix an acid waste with a basic waste
Control by Dilution
 Dilution okay for;
 products with short residence times in the env.
 those products with inoccuous degradation products
 dilution not suitable for;
 persistent contaminants
 products with persistent degradation products
 products with harmful degradation products
Control by Dilution
 Air environment - Power plants;
 rely on dispersion by tall stacks for dilution
 will switch fuels or process operations when
inversions occur
 Water environment
 dilution depends on stream flow
 industry builds holding tanks to dilute contaminant
during periods of high stream flow
Occupational Controls
 local exhaust
 dilution ventilation
 wetting agents
 PPE
Community “Air Quality”
Controls
 Source controls
 air cleaning techniques
 mobile source controls
 stationary combustion controls
Source Controls
 air cleaning techniques
 combustion
 adsorption/condensation
 scrubbing
 bag filters
 electrostatic precipitators
 inertial separtions
Source control: Catalytic Converter
Air Pollution Controls
 Curb emissions strictly at their source
 Fuel switching
 Switching from coal containing high sulfur concentrations to low
sulfur coal
 Switching from leaded versus unleaded gasoline
 Shift Location of Emissions
 NOx from car exhaust shifted to electric power plants by switching to
electric cars; thereby reducing emission sources needed for control
(therefore, only power plants need to use controls to reduce NOx)
Air Pollution Controls

 Curb emissions strictly at their source continued


Add On Devices which reduce emissions
 Autos - catalytic converters absorb VOC’s
 Industry - scrubbers, ESPs, etc. remove pollutants from gas stream
Air Pollution Controls

 Legislation
 Put limits on emissions, such as ash, sulphur, etc.
 Put limits on Hg in the fuel – thus reducing emissions after burning
 Ban the use of lead in gasoline
 Mexico: only drive car 6 days per week
 Cap & trade
Air Pollution Control

 The atmosphere is an excellent medium for diluting effluents

 Air is readily mixed and transported
 But the atmosphere’s capability to disperse pollutants makes it
virtually impossible to recapture or contain pollutants
 Air pollution control must be preventive – goes by acronyms: either
PP/2P/P2 “Pollution Prevention”
 Sustainable development practices
 Preventative technologies
Air Pollution Control

Sustainable Development Practices

 Best way to control air pollutants is to not produce the
pollutant
 Ex. Burn less fuel by not using something
 Ex. Unleaded fuel eliminates release of lead to atmosphere
(fuel switching)
 Ex. NOX not produced by redesigning engine (lowered cylinder
temps)
 Ex. Produce more efficient internal combustion engines (ICE’s)
or create a new technology that replaces ICE’s (Most steel
engines operate at most at 37% efficiency)
Control of Surface Water
Quality
 stream manipulation
 segregation of waste streams
 oily
 inorganic materials
 storm drainage
 mixing of waste streams
 acidic plus basic
 may help biological breakdown
 reduction of waste volume
Control of Surface Water
Quality
 water treatment techniques
 screening
 mechanical process
 used for streams with large amount of solids
 eg. pulp & paper, textiles, food
 centrifugal separation (hydrocyclones)
 separates dense suspended particles
 cheaper than centrifugation
Control of Surface Water
Quality
 water treatment techniques (cont’d)
 neutralization
 treat waste stream to neutralize
 use sodium hydroxide for acidic stream
 bubble flue gas through waste stream
 precipitation
 lime may be used
 flocculation and coagulation
 bring together fine particles into larger flocs
 improves settling
 use synthetic polymers to cause flocculation
Control of Surface Water
Quality
 water treatment techniques (cont’d)
 separation by density differences
 depends on:
 water temperature
 specific gravity of the oil or suspended solids
 size and shape of oil droplets or particles
 solids concentration
 eg. sedimentation, air floatation
Control of Surface Water
Quality
 water treatment techniques (cont’d)
 filtration
 separates liquids from solids
 may use sand to separate
 to be filterable, solids must be flocculant
 eg. use for removal of oil from refinery wastewater
 eg. for effluents from pulp and paper plants
 size and depth of the filter bed important
Control of Surface Water
Quality
 water treatment techniqes (cont’d)
 biological treatment
 biological oxidation
 microorganisms break down organic wastes
 usually aerobic organisms
 heterotrophic
 two mechanisms for storing microbes
 as a flocculated suspension aka activated sludge
 biological film fixed to an inert medium
Control of Drinking Water
Quality
 disease transmission from drinking water is now
rare
 two ways to provide good drinking water;
 have a pure supply
 purify and disinfect available water
 monitor the supply and at various distribution points
Selection of Sources
 protected watershed areas
 deep wells
 tend to be hard water
 good in terms of biological content
 shallow wells
 need to be monitored regularly
 rivers and streams
 need to treat
 coagulation, precipitation, sand filtration, disinfection