ABS Group to Speak on Efficency, Effectiveness of Cost Benefit Analysis at the PSAM/ABRISCO Conference

Risk management involves applying a variety of interrelated hazard/risk evaluation techniques to a project or operating facility, and then using the resulting recommendations to improve safety and reduce operational risks. When carrying out these types of evaluations, it is not unusual for the risk evaluation team to identify dozens or even hundreds of recommendations.

A large number of recommendations actually is beneficial because each recommendation provides an opportunity for risk reduction and/or other actions for improvement. A large number of recommendations, however, can be overwhelming to the managers responsible for implementation because the volume of information makes it difficult to decide what to do and when to do it.

Cost benefit analysis is a powerful tool managers can use to sort through large numbers of recommendations and to effectively and efficiently prioritize them. Using a case study that included more than 2,300 recommendations, ABS Group will present a simple, efficient, effective and well-tried approach for performing cost benefit analysis at the PSAM/ABRISCO conference in Rio de Janeiro in November. While this method is not intended to replace more detailed methodologies, it is a complementary tool that is particularly useful for applications with a large number of recommendations.

The Associação Brasileira de Análise de Risco, Segurança de Processo e Confiabilidade (ABRISCO) provides an open forum for professionals from academic, private and public sectors discuss risk, process safety and reliability analysis issues. The International Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management (IAPSAM) sponsors and oversees conferences such as the PSAM/ABRISCO event, which promote rational decision-making for improved safety and reliability and focus on optimizing the use of resources for complex systems.