49006 Risk Management in Engineering
UTS: Engineering: Systems, Management and LeadershipCredit points: 6 cp
Subject level: Postgraduate
Result Type: Grade and marksRequisite(s): 120 credit points of completed study in C10061 Bachelor of Engineering Diploma in Engineering Practice OR 120 credit points of completed study in C10066 Bachelor of Engineering Science OR 120 credit points of completed study in C10067 Bachelor of Engineering
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are also course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Subject coordinator
Associate Professor David Eager
david.eager@uts.edu.au
Handbook description
This subject develops students' capability to identify, assess, improve and limit risk in the management and practice of engineering through the application of the concepts and tools of risk engineering. On completion, students are able to identify the main hazards in an engineering project and design an appropriate risk management strategy. Topics supported by case studies include semantics of risk and hazard; risk as a social construct; principles of risk management; steps in risk engineering; integration with the engineering process; risk perception, risk communication and the acceptability of risks; statutory provisions in NSW relating to some engineering risks; legal principles relating to engineering risks (contract, liability, etc.); checklists and scope for risk identification and assessment; design criteria and code provisions for various risks; comparing risks; quantified and qualitative risk assessment methods; risk assessment in emergencies; and financial tools in the management of engineering risks.
Subject objectives/outcomes
The objectives of the subject are to introduce graduate level engineers to the methods of risk assessment and risk management in the context of their field of engineering practice and with an understanding of the corporate risk environment. In particular, students will develop an ability to apply the Australian Standard Risk Management AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009. An understanding of the concepts of risk perception, risk communication, risk acceptability and risk treatment (mitigation, avoiding, transferring, sharing and retaining) will also be developed.
Teaching and learning strategies
In Standard and Block Mode the subject will primarily be presented in a lecture/tutorial format. Students are expected to participate in class discussion in an interactive and professional manner and share their engineering risk management experiences with the class. Students are expected to do additional reading outside the 3 hours per week of contact.
Students are expected to work and learn independently using the resource material provided in the recommended Text, LRM, and within UTSOnline.
An indication of how much time you should allocate to the study of this subject is an additional 2 hours minimum for each hour in the classroom.
The University has established the UTSOnline site (www.online.uts.edu.au) to aid your study of this subject. It is suggested that you use this study tool to interact with other students enrolled in this subject.
As a Distance Mode student you are expected to work and learn independently using the resource material provided in the LRM, recommended textbook and additional resource material as necessary.
Content
The subject considers the professional, legal and managerial responsibilities of the professional engineer associated with the management of risk.
Assessment
Assessment item 1: Assignment 1
| Weighting: | 10% (Standard and Block Mode) 20% (Distance Mode) |
| Length: | Approximately 2500 words, excluding any appendices. |
| Task: | Assignment details will be posted on UTSOnline. |
Assessment item 2: Group Assignment Report (Standard and Block Mode students only)
| Weighting: | 30% |
| Length: | Approximately 5000 words excluding appendices |
| Task: | Groups will be formed early in the course programme for the tutorial sessions You are to consider your Group as a team of Risk Management Consultants employed to produce a theoretical paper on a chosen topic. You are to produce the Report, and give a presentation on that report (see Group Presentation below). |
Assessment item 3: Group Report Presentation (Standard and Block Mode students only)
| Weighting: | 10% |
| Task: | Your Group will make a 20 minute PowerPoint type presentation based on your Group Report to the class. Marks will be awarded for the professionalism and content of this presentation. |
Assessment item 4: Assignment 2 (Distance Mode students only)
| Weighting: | 30% |
| Length: | Approximately 4000 words |
| Task: | You are to imagine that you are a Risk management Consultant employed to produce a theoretical paper on a chosen topic. Working individually, write a report on your chosen topic. Distance Mode students can choose a topic from the list of topics posted on UTSOnline. |
Assessment item 5: Final exam
| Weighting: | 50% |
| Task: | The final examination will be a 2 hour closed book examination. |
Minimum requirements
Students are advised that a 50% pass in the Final Examination is a mandatory requirement for passing this subject. Students who fail the Final Examination will be given a mark of 44Z or their total mark whichever is the lesser.
Recommended text(s)
The presentation of the subject will focus around the Australian Standards publication
- Risk Management Guidelines – Companion to AS/NZS 4360:2004
A link to an electronic version of this publication is provided on the UTSOnline, within the Course Documents folder.
Students should also read (or re-read) the following Australian Standards:
- AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk Management - Principles and guidelines
- AS/NZS 3931:1998 Risk Analysis of Technological Systems - Application Guide.
Links to electronic versions of both publications are provided on the UTSOnline, within the Course Documents folder.
During the lectures attention will be drawn to current events to examine community perceptions to risk management and the implications of these perceptions to the role of the professional engineer in managing risk.
Indicative references
The UTS Library has excellent collection of resources on risk management. The following is a selection of the titles relevant to this subject; UTS Call Numbers are shown for those books held by the Library.
Adams, J., 1995. Risk. London: UCL Press.
Aslaksen, E.W., 1996. The Changing Nature of Engineering. Roseville, NSW: McGraw-Hill.
Bahr, N.J., 1997. System Safety Engineering and Risk Assessment. Taylor & Francis, UK. ISBN 1560324163.
Beck, U., 1992. Risk Society: towards a new modernity. Translated by M. Ritter. London: SAGE Publications.
Beer, T., and F. Ziolkowski, 1995. Environmental Risk Assessment: an Australian perspective. Jabiru: Supervising Scientist Report 102, Office of the Supervising Scientist, Commonwealth EPA.
Beroggi, C.E.G., and W.A. Wallace (eds.), 1995. Computer Supported Risk Management. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Blockley, D.I., 1980. The Nature of Structural Design and Safety. Chichester: Ellis Horwood.
Blockley, D.I. (ed.), 1992. Engineering Safety. London: McGraw Hill.
Boehm, B.W., 1989. Software Risk Management. Washington DC: IEEE Computer Society Press.
British Medical Association, Living with Risk. Penguin Books, 1990.
Canada, J.R., W.G. Sullivan and J.A. White, 1996. Capital Investment Analysis for Engineering and Management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Chapman, C., and S. Ward, 1997. Project Risk Management: processes, techniques and insights. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Clarke, LB, 1997. Mission Improbable: using fantasy documents to tame disaster. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Committee on Risk Assessment of Hazardous Air Pollutants, US National Research Council, 1994. Science and Judgment in Risk Assessment. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Cooper, D.F., and C.B. Chapman, 1987. Risk Analysis for Large Projects: models, methods and cases. Chichester: John Wiley.
Cooper, D.F., et al., 2004. Project Risk Management Guidelines: Managing Risk in Large Projects and Complex Procurements. John Wiley. ISBN: 0470022817
Covello, V.T., et al. (eds.), 1987. Uncertainty in Risk Assessment, Risk Management and Decision Making. New York: Plenum Press.
Cox, S.J., and N.R.S. Tait, 1991. Reliability, Safety and Risk Management. (also, 2nd edn., 1998)
Cushman, R.F., 1995. Architect and Engineer Liability: claims against design professionals. New York: Wiley.
Cutter, S.L., Living with Risk. Edward Arnold, London, 1993.
Daniell, M.H., 2001. World of risk: next generation strategy for a volatile era. New York: Wiley.
(U.K.) Department of the Environment, 1995. A Guide to Risk Assessment and Risk Management for Environment Protection. London: HMSO.
Department of Planning (NSW), Environmental Risk Impact Assessment Guidelines (Hazardous Industry Planning Advisory Paper No. 3), 1994.
Department of Planning (NSW), Risk Criteria for Land Use Safety Planning (Hazardous Industry Planning Advisory Paper No. 4), 1992.
Department of Planning (NSW), Hazard Audit Guidelines (Hazardous Industry Planning Advisory Paper No. 5), 1993.
Department of Planning (NSW), Guidelines for Hazard Analysis (Hazardous Industry Planning Advisory Paper No.6), 1992.
Department of Planning (NSW), 1993. Newcastle and Kooragang Island Area Risk Study.
Edwards, L., 1995. Practical Risk Management in the Construction Industry. London: Thomas Telford Publishers.
Fortune, J., and G. Peters, 1995. Learning from Failure. Chichester, New York: Wiley.
Foster, K.R., et al. (eds.), 1993. Phantom Risk: scientific inference and the law. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Fox, John, and Subrata Das, 2000. Safe and Sound: Artificial Intelligence in Hazardous Applications. Jointly published by AAAI and MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-06211-9
Gerrard, M., 1994. Whose Backyards, Whose Risk: fear and fairness in toxic and nuclear waste siting. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Gheorghe, A.V., and R. Mock, 1999. Risk Engineering: Bridging Risk Analysis With Stakeholders’ Values. Kluwer. ISBN 0792355741
Glendon, A.I., and E.F. McKenna, 1995. Human Safety and Risk Management. London: Chapman & Hall.
Glickman, T.S., and M. Gough (eds.), 1990. Readings in Risk. Baltimore: Resources for the Future.
Graham, J.D., and J.B. Wiener (eds.), 1995. Risk versus Risk: tradeoffs in protecting health and the environment. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP.
Granger, M.M., and M. Henrion, 1992. Uncertainty: a guide to dealing with uncertainty in quantitative risk and policy analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grey, S., 1995. Practical Risk Assessment for Risk Management. Chichester: John Wiley.
Haimes, Y.Y., 1998. Risk Modelling, assessment, and Management. New York: Wiley.
Hall, E.M., 1998. Managing Risk: methods for software systems development. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Hopkins, A., 2000. Lessons from Longford: the Esso gas plant explosion. CCH Australia: North Ryde.
Hopkins, A., 2000?. Safety, Culture and Risk. CCH Australia: North Ryde. ISBN 1921022256.
Hurst, NW, 1998. Risk Assessment: the human dimension. London: The Royal Society of Chemistry. ISBN 0-85404--554-6.
IEAust Standing Committee on Liability, 1993. Are You at Risk? Canberra: The Institution of Engineers, Australia.
IEAust Standing Committee on Liability, 1993. Dealing with Risk. Canberra: The Institution of Engineers, Australia.
James, M. (Ed.), 1996. Risk Management in Civil, Mechanical and Structural Engineering. London: Thomas Telford Publishing.
Johnson, B.B., and V.T. Covello (eds.), 1987. The Social and Cultural Construction of Risk: essays on risk selection and perception. Dordrecht: D. Reidel & Co.
Jones, T.C., 1994. Assessment and Control of Software Risks. Prentice Hall.
Kandel, A., and E. Auni (eds.), 1988. Engineering Risk and Hazard Assessment. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Kipp, J.D. and M.E. Loflin, 1996. Emergency incident risk management: a safety and health perspective. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
Kletz, T., 1994. Learning from Accidents. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinmann.
Krimsky, S., and D. Golding (eds.), 1992. Social Theories of Risk. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
Kolluru, R.V., et al. (eds.), 1996. Risk Assessment and Management Handbook for Environment, Health, and Safety Professionals. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Kumamoto, H., and E.J. Henley, 1996. Probabilistic Risk Assessment and Management for Engineers and Scientists. New York: IEEE Press.
Laudan, L., The Book of Risks. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1994. ($24.95, Dymocks, Glebe Books) (humorous table of risks in everyday life in the US)
Leiss, W., and C. Chociolko, 1994. Risk and Responsibility. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Leveson, N.G., 1995. Safeware: system safety and computers. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
Margolis, H., 1996. Dealing with Risk: why the public and experts disagree on environmental issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Modarres, M., 1993. What Every Engineer Should Know About Reliability and Risk Analysis. New York: M. Dekker.
National Health & Medical Research Council, National Framework for Environmental and Health Risk Assessment. AGPS, Canberra, 1994. (Cat. No. 94 1626 2; $14.95 at AGPS Bookshops.)
Neumann, P.G., 1995. Computer-related Risks. Addison Wesley.
Nicolet-Monnier, M., and A.V. Gheorge, 1996. Quantitative Risk Assessment of Hazardous Material Transport Systems: rail, road, pipelines and ship. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Ould, M.A., 1990. Strategies for Software Engineering: the management of risk and quality. New York: Wiley.
Phimister, J.R., et al. (eds.), 2004. Accident Precursor Analysis and Management: reducing technological risk through diligence
Raftery, J., 1994. Risk Analysis in Risk Management. London: E&FN Spon.
Reason, James, 1997. Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents. Ashgate Publishing, UK. ISBN 1-84014-104-2.
Regester, M., and J. Larkin, 2001. Risk issues and crisis management: a casebook of best practice. London: Kogan Page.
Rodricks, J.V., Calculated Risks: understanding toxicity and human health risks of chemicals in our environment. Cambridge UP, 1992. ($31.25 at Dymocks & Glebe Books)
Royal Society Study Group, 1992. Risk: Analysis, Perception and Management. London: Royal Society.
(Esp. Chapters 2 - Engineering Risk, and 6 - Risk Management)
Sappideen, C., and R.H. Stillman, 1995. Liability for Electrical Accidents: risk, negligence and tort. Sydney: Engineers Australia.
Schwing, R.C., and W. A. Albers, Jr. (eds.), 1980. Societal Risk Assessment: how safe is safe enough? New York: Plenum Press.
Slater, D.H., et al., 1986. Major Industrial Hazards Report. Sydney: Warren Centre, University of Sydney.
Soukas, J., and Veikko Rouhiainen (eds.), 1993. Quality Management of Safety and Risk Analysis. Amstrdam: Elsevier.
Soares, C.G. (ed.), 1998. Risk and Reliability in Marine Technology. Rotterdam, Netherlands: A.A. Balkema.
Smith, D.J., 2001. Reliability, Maintainability, and Risk: practical methods for engineers. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. (Library also has a copy of the 1997 edition)
Stewart, MG, and Melchers, RE, 1997. Probabilistic Risk Assessment of Engineering Systems. Chapman & Hall, London. ISBN 0-412-80570-7. Price GBPounds55.00. Available through DA Books.
Taylor, M., 2000. Avoiding Claims in Building Design: risk management in practice. Blackwell Science.
Terry, G.J., 1991. Engineering System Safety. London: Mechanical Engineering Publications.
Thompson, P.A., and J.G. Perry, 1992. Engineering Construction Risks: a guide to project risk analysis and assessment - implications for project clients and project managers. London: Thomas Telford Publishers.
Turner, B.A., and N.F. Pidgeon, N., 1997. Man-Made Disasters. 2nd ed., Oxford: Butterworth-Heinmann.
Tweeddale, H.M., 1992. Risk Management. Milsons Point: Engineering Education Australia.
Vaughan, D., 1996. The Challenger Launch Decision: risky technology, culture, and deviance at NASA. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Viner, D. (ed.), 1987. Risk Engineering for Public, product and Employee Safety. Parkville, Vic.: IEAust. Victoria Division.
Viner, D., 1991. Accident Analysis and Risk Control. Fairfield (Vic.): VHMS.
Vose, D., 2000. Quantitative Risk Analysis: a guide to Monte Carlo simulation modelling. 2nd edition, New York: Wiley.
Waring, A., and A.I. Glendon, 1998. Managing Risk: critical issues for survival and success into the 21st century. London: Thompson ITP.
Wells, G., 1996. Hazard Identification and Risk Management. Warwickshire: Institution of Chemical Engineers.
Other resources
UTS Online – http://online.uts.edu.au/webapps/login/
UTSOnline is a web-based learning tool used in many UTS subjects. It can be accessed from inside and outside UTS via most web-browsers.
This subject will make use of UTSOnline http://online.uts.edu.au/webapps/login/ as a means of communication between teaching staff and students. You should be registered automatically if you have enrolled correctly. If you do not want to receive emails at your default UTS email account then you should forward emails to your preferred email address.
Students need to familiarise themselves with UTSOnline. Announcements will be made using this facility. Students are expected to regularly check the announcements page for information.Having problems logging on? Service Desk is the first point of contact for staff, students, and the general community in relation to Student Centre enquiries, the IT Support Centre and Audio Visual Services - https://servicedesk.uts.edu.au/CAisd/pdmweb.exe.
Note, use the login button if you are an existing student or staff member; use your student or staff number with your UTS Access (email) password to login. Guest login is for all other customers. Service Desk will be unavailable from 2am-3am weekdays and 2am-6am Sunday for backups and scheduled maintenance.
“LRM 49006 Risk Management in Engineering (UTS: Engineering)” is a very good resource and Students enrolled in the Face-to-Face can obtain the LRM from the Union Shop. The LRM is sold at cost to students enrolled in this subject (you will need to take your Student Card).
Lecture Support Notes (LSN) in the form of PowerPoint presentation printouts will be progressively posted on UTSOnline. (http://online.uts.edu.au/).
