Risk and Hazard in YOUR Environment

Risk and Hazard in YOUR Environment

Storm Shelter Survives a Tornado.
Photo Credit: FEMA Multimedia Library
Having a better understanding of the terms risk and hazard, identify the risks and hazards associated with your immediate environment (the room or building you are in now) and answer these questions:

Who in your community would be a valuable member of a risk management team?
What are the risks and hazards of your environment?
How would you prioritize them from most critical to least critical?
What measures could be taken to control or reduce the risk?
Explain why you view some risks as less critical and why there is a tolerance for that risk.
Finally, as you compare and discuss your answers, study the differences/similarities between individual responses and tolerance levels.

Discussion Participation Tips
Your initial post should be a well throughout response that answers all the questions, is adequately detailed, and cites outside sources when necessary to support your post. Typically your post needs to be at least 250 words which should allow you to answer questions, ask follow up questions, provide supplemental information, and to share your own relevant views and experiences which is necessary to draw us into an in-depth and meaningful conversation. Your first response should be posted by midweek and then you should return to this discussion area and respond to at two other students during the remaining week(s) of the module. Posting more often is strongly encouraged to improve your learning and discussion grade. Be sure to use APA format to cite sources when putting forth the ideas, opinions, and facts of others.

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Writer the above is required to be 250 words. The remaining words are to felons to the following 2 submissions on this discussion by other students

1) My community is the Township in which I reside which is comprised of four fire districts, of which I am a member of one.. The valuable members of the risk management team for this township would include the town supervisor, the four fire chiefs, and the town codes enforcement officer. And being a small rural Township, risk that would affect the whole community are rare. Thinking back over the last 30 years I can only think of a handful of events that affected the entire town. Risks that would affect the entire town in order of most likely to least likely based on the history of the past 30 years are as follows: Windstorms, Snowstorms, Flooding, and Ice Storms. Local risks are Motor Vehicle Collisions and Structure Fires. One measure that could help with town wide events would be developing in web based early warning system where members of the Township can sign up to receive messages. Another method to reduce risk is to develop land use plans that would remove trees away from roadways and utility lines. A land-use plan can also be utilized as a way to ensure that no building permits are issued for an area with a high likelihood of flooding. Additionally, public education about preparedness with lessons on stocking up for emergencies and first aid would be beneficial. Other risks, like motor vehicle collisions and structure fires are part of everyday life. We have speed limits and seatbelt laws for motor vehicles. We also have building codes when it comes to residential and commercial construction, however we cannot completely eliminate risk. While some risk cannot be mitigated, we can plan and train to respond in the event of an incident.

2) I currently live in an apartment complex in Manchester NH. The people that I would have in my risk management team would be:

– Complex owner representative

– Maintenance representative

– Department of Public Works representative

– Public safety representatives

o Fire and law enforcement

– Utility Company Representative

I chose these individuals because they can bring insight from their perspective agency/field that can help address hazards while also highlighting additional hazards that might have been overlooked. I also added an additional representative from the complex owner because they have a major stake in the security and health of their property and should be kept appraised of any risk management efforts.

The risks facing the community in order are:

1) Fire

2) Freezing temperatures

3) Heavy snow/blizzard

4) Ice storm/formation

5) Motor vehicle accident

I listed these in this order based on their likelihood of occurrence and the impact they would have if they did occur. While a vehicle accident is the most likely to occur, the low speeds involved in driving through the complex means that the effects would be minimal. A fire is less likely than a car accident yet would have a greater negative effect on more people. Various actions can be taken to reduce the risks posed by these hazards such as spreading salt and sane on roads and walkways to reduce the dangers posed by ice and freezing temperatures. Additional measures can include conducting preventive maintenance of heating equipment to ensure they do not fail during cold fronts.
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Also we were issued the following content guides for this module this week they may be of help and are as follows:

1. M1 Content Guide: Risk Management
Arial view of the World Trade Center after 9/11Risk management is one of the specialties within the general field of management. “Management” may be defined as the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the resources and activities of an organization in order to fulfill its objectives most cost-effectively.

An organization has one or more of a variety of objectives: profit, growth, public service, or the performance of a governmental function, to name a few. To achieve these objectives, an organization must first reach a more fundamental goal: survival in the face of a potential crippling accidental losses. Beyond mere survival, the top management (elected officials) of an organization also may wish to prevent any accidental losses from interrupting the organization’s, slowing its growth, or reducing its profits or cash flows by more than a specific amount.

Risk management occupies an important place in the broad definition of management – that devoted to minimizing the adverse effects of accidental loss on the organization. It is the process that includes the four functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling activities of an organization in order to minimize the adverse effects of accidental losses on that organization at reasonable cost. As you can see this definition stresses the managerial aspects of risk management in carrying out decisions with respect to potential accidental losses.

Identifying and analyzing an organization’s or community net income loss exposures involves using the six standard methods of discovering loss exposures – surveys/questionnaires, financial statements, and other organizational records (budgets, tax revenue, income statements, etc.) flowcharts, personal inspections, and consultations with experts within and outside the organization (Insurance brokers).

The three dimensions common to all loss exposures:

Values exposed to loss, the methods project an organization’s anticipated future revenues and expenses on the assumption that no disrupting incidents occur.
The peril event causing loss, overlaps with each of the other three major classes of loss exposure. This is because any incident that causes an organization or community to suffer a property, liability or personnel loss is also likely to result in a net income loss to that organization. Events that disrupt utility service, transportation, or incidents away from the location could impact the loss to the organization.
Financial impact on any entity – influenced by:
Time needed to resume operations is longer
Disruption requires full rather than partial shutdown
The reduction in revenues for each day is greater
The continuing, additional, and added expediting expenses reach a greater total
The organizations net income is smaller
Time needed to resume the pre-loss level of activity is longer
Additional Resources
Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management – Guide to Web information resources for researchers working on topics in crisis and emergency management.

2. How do we define risk?

Photo Credit: FEMA Multimedia Library
Risk is often defined as the possibility that something bad or unpleasant (such as an injury or a loss) will happen (Miriam-Webster, 2013). Penning-Rowsell and Handmer (1990) found that risk is defined in three ways:

With regard solely to the occurrence probability of the damaging event — a statistical concept;
With regard to both event probability and the degree and type of damage or potential damage (here, risk is seen as the product of event probability and severity of impact); and
With regard to the distribution of power within society as well as to the distribution of costs and benefits. In other words, who bears and who imposes the risk?
Many communities have been sited in locations that place them at considerable risk (e.g., flood plains). In other cases, the risk remains unknown until a disaster occurs or until new information is provided. Like many authors who define risk as related to likelihood or probability, Lawrence (1981, 109) describes risk as the probability that a potential situation will cause damage to people, property, and environment.

Similarly, Godschalk (1991, 132) states that risk is the probability that a hazard will occur during a particular time period and that probability is the number of chances per year or another time span that a disaster of a certain magnitude will occur (144). This is, by far, the simplest definition of risk.

Whyte and Burton (1980), on the other hand, define risk as the product of the probability of the occurrence of a hazard and its societal consequences.

For many, risk seems to be linked to probability and magnitude. In other words, it is not enough to know that the river will flood; it is just as important to know when the flood will occur and whether it will be six centimeters or six meters.

However, connecting the concepts of probability and magnitude (i.e., probability x consequence) within a definition of risk is problematic, e.g., it may be impossible to reduce the probability of an event, especially in the case of natural hazards (e.g., an earthquake), while there may be a multitude of actions, especially social actions, that can be taken to minimize the consequences of an event (e.g., getting decent building codes, developing neighborhood response plans, etc.).

Steps taken to reduce the probability of a hazardous event do not necessarily have an impact on its consequences e.g., improving safety practices at a chemical plant may reduce the probability of the event taking place, but it will do little to reduce the community impact of an escape of toxic gases.

In some cases, there may indeed be a link between the likelihood of an event and its consequences (e.g., increased safety practices may lead to a faster response to the leak of toxic gases). While we may have very good data on the probability of an event taking place, we may have little information regarding its consequences (or vice versa). By attempting to combine the two, uncertainties get masked and may, in fact, be completely hidden.

One of the most useful definitions of risk, preferred by many risk managers, is displayed in the equation stating that risk is the likelihood of an event occurring multiplied by the consequence of that event, were it to occur.

RISK = LIKELIHOOD X CONSEQUENCE

The likelihood can be expressed as a probability or a frequency, depending on the analysis being considered.

This definition may be one that many are unfamiliar with or one that causes confusion as many regularly use the word risk in the same manner as they use hazard. Therefore, we should briefly examine what hazard will mean in this course. While risk and a hazard are related, they are not the same. Risk is related to a hazard in that the risk is a measure of the hazards likelihood and consequence. Whereas a hazard is an event or a condition, risk is a measure of that event or condition.

Take a moment to consider the term hazards and how you define and measure risk.

References

FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute’s online textbook Introduction to Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Concepts. Retrieved from http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/emoutline.asp. December 2013.

Godschalk, David R. (1991). “Disaster Mitigation and Hazard Management.” In Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government, ed. Thomas E. Drabek and Gerard J. Hoetmer, 131-60. Washington, DC: International City Management Association.

Lawrence, J. (1981). Approaches to Natural Hazard Planning in Urban Areas. In Proceedings of the 11th New Zealand Geographers Conference. 109-12. New Zealand: New Zealand Geographical Society.

Penning-Rowsell, Edmund, and John Handmer. (1990) “The Changing Context of Risk Communication.” In Hazards and the Communication of Risk, ed., John Handmer and Edmund Penning-Roswell, 3-15. Vermont: Gower.

Whyte, Annel, and Ian Burton (eds). (1980) Environmental Risk Assessment. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

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