Risk Management

Risk management is a decision-making process which considers various factors with risk assessments relating to a potential hazard, in order to develop regulatory response options. Technological developments, organisational changes and increased demand for efficiency have influenced the vulnerability of our society. Thus, safety and risk management is becoming an important field.

This book discusses some fundamental principles of risk management, related to the use of expected values, uncertainty handling and risk acceptance criteria. A decision framework for risk management is developed that provides a structure for the classification of risk decision problems and a procedure for the execution of the related decision-making processes. Examples from the offshore petroleum industry are included to illustrate the use of the framework.

This book is a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers in risk management, practitioners in the industry, engineering managers and regulatory authorities.

From the reviews:

"This book is about making decisions in the face of risks and uncertainties and they outline the challenges that go with this process of decision making. … has come around successfully in presenting its theme, theories and applications of risk management, more so to an off-shore gas and oil industry and would like to recommend to all risk analysts and managers. … would also be found useful by the students and teachers at universities in pursuing or teaching a risk management course." (Krishna B. Misra, International Journal of Performability Engineering, Vol. 4 (3), 2008)

“‘Risk Management: with Applications from the offshore Petroleum Industry’ … is about how the offshore oil and gas sector should assess, manage and tackle risk of an offshore installation’s complete life cycle from predesign to final decommissioning and disposal in the world’s tempestuous seas. … For the industry’s practitioners, it provides a ready-made decision making framework in which to tackle decision making in high risk environments … . This book should prove essential reading for the industry’s decision makers … .” (Nicholas Newman, Oxford Prospect, September, 2010)

Terje Aven is Professor of Risk Analysis and Management at University of Stavanger, Norway. He is also a Principal Researcher at Rogaland Research, Norway. His professional career includes experience in the petroleum industry (Statoil) in addition to his time in research and education. His research interests include decision support tools, risk management, risk acceptance, reliability and risk analysis methods, and risk assessments reflecting human and organizational factors. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences. He has been awarded several prizes for his research and teaching activities.

Jan Erik Vinnem is Professor II of Risk Analysis at University of Stavanger, Norway. He is also a specialist advisor and CEO of Preventor AS, a consultancy to the Norwegian offshore industry. His professional career includes experience in the petroleum industry (Statoil and Total), and work as a private consultant (as the founder of Safetec Nordic AS and Preventor AS), in addition to his time in research and education. His research interests include decision support tools, risk management, risk acceptance, risk analysis methods, and risk assessments reflecting human and organizational factors.