Risks involved in new technologies or arising from novel configurations of old technologies recurrently result in major accidents. For example, the new bioleaching technology to extract nickel from ore was taken into use in Finland in 2008. Later, one of the personnel died as a victim of hydrogen sulfide exposure and there were unplanned releases of process waters that contaminated lakes and rivers. Several risk analyses were performed but none of them considered the local climate and surrounding environmental circumstances. A comprehensive risk assessment process combining the knowledge of different stakeholders, authorities, and citizens would have helped to avoid the sad outcome. A single enterprise has a very clear picture of the risk figure on its own, but is reluctant to reveal commercially sensitive information to others, and even incapable of understanding all the expectations and constraints that the natural and built environments may impose. Only governmental authorities are in a position to form a comprehensive picture of all the risks. This paper presents a new approach for a proactive risk identification method based on collaborative integrated assessment. It states that by implementing this method society is able to utilize the science-based information in an efficient way for managing the emerging technogenic risks.
Climate Vol.3 Nr.4, 1018-1034 ; Climate change impacts on nature and the environment have been widely discussed and studied. Traditionally, a company's continuity management is based on risk analysis. There are also attempts to implement scenario-based methods in the risk management procedures of companies. For industrial decision makers, it is vital to acknowledge the impacts of climate change with regards to their adaptation strategies. However, a scenario-based approach is not always the most effective way to analyze these risks. This paper investigates the integration of scenario and risk-based methods for a company's adaptation planning. It considers the uncertainties of the climate change scenarios and the recognized risks as well as suitable adaptation strategies. The paper presents the results of climate risk analysis prepared for two Finnish hydropower plants. The introduced method was first piloted in 2008 and then again in 2015. The update of the analysis pointed out that at the company level, the climate risks and other risks originating from governmental or political decisions form an intertwined wholeness where the origin of the risk is difficult to outline. It seems that, from the business point of view, the main adaptation strategies suggested by the integrated risk and scenarios approach are those that support buying "safety margins" in new investments and reducing decision time horizons. Both of these adaptation strategies provide an advantage in the circumstances where also political decisions and societal changes have a great effect on decision making.
Transportation Research Record Nr.2329, 45 - 53 ; This paper describes a novel risk indicator for extreme weather risks for use in transportation systems. The risk indicator is applied to the European transportation system indicating and ranking the risks for the 27 member states of the European Union (EU-27). The paper starts with definitions of hazards, vulnerability, and risk, based on relevant literature, and then operationalizes the risk, hazard, and vulnerability with the help of EU-27 data. Finally, the paper discusses the extreme weather risk indicator (EWRI) and evaluates its applicability and limitations. The risk indicator is a relative indicator: it should be viewed and treated as a ranking system. The devised indicator is able to assist decision makers at national and state as well as international and federal levels in the prioritization of extreme weather risks within their jurisdiction. The overall approach of EWRI is based on mainstream risk and vulnerability assessment research, following for the most part the existing conceptual models. The novelty of EWRI lies in its application area (transportation) and wide use of both empirical and statistical data. EWRI was used to assess the hazards, vulnerabilities, and risks of extreme weather for the EU-27, but nothing hinders its application, either in this form or a modified form, in other contexts.
Journal of Chemical Health and Safety Vol.15 Nr.1, 24 - 31 ; Environmental legislation and voluntary improvement activities at Finnish enterprises have led to a situation where attempts have been made to prevent accidental emissions resulting from abnormal and unexpected events at industrial sites by using environmental risk analysis. However, the consensus among companies and authorities was that there was no clear idea on what an environmental risk analysis should contain. A project with the aim of preparing a guideline for conducting environmental risk analysis according to good practises was commissioned. This article summarises the main contents of the guideline, focusing on the risk terminology and instructions about how to perform an environmental risk analysis in practice. The framework developed is strongly based on the risk analysis techniques and traditions of industrial safety. Environmental risk analysis consists of scope definition, risk identification, risk assessment and proposals for risk reduction and mitigation actions. A consequence matrix in association with a risk matrix is an important element of risk analysis, and supports the decision making from the viewpoint of risk tolerability and acceptance.
VTT Technology 43 ; This deliverable of EWENT project estimates the risks of extreme weather on European transport system. The main object of work package 5 in EWENT project was to perform a risk analysis based on impact and probability assessments carried out in earlier work packages (WP2-WP3). The results of WP 5 can be used as a starting point when deciding on the risk reduction measures, strategies and policies in the European Union. This deliverable also serves as a background material for the synthesis report (named shortly as Risk Panorama), which will summarise the findings of risk assessment and previous work packages. The methodological approach of EWENT is based on the generic risk management standard (IEC 60300-3-9) and starts with the identification of hazardous extreme weather phenomena, followed by an impact assessment and concluded by mitigation and risk control measures. This report pools the information from EWENT's earlier work packages, such as risk identification and estimation, into a 'risk panorama' and provides a holistic picture on the risks of extreme weather in different parts of Europe and EU transport network. The risk assessment is based on the definition of transport systems' vulnerability to extreme weather events in different countries and on calculations of the most probable causal chains, starting from adverse weather phenomena and ending up with events that pose harmful consequences to the transport systems in different climate regions. The latter part, the probabilistic section, is the hazard analysis. The vulnerability of a particular mode in a particular country is a function of exposure (indicated by transport or freight volumes and population density), susceptibility (infrastructure quality index, indicating overall resilience) and coping capacity (measured by GDP per capita). Hence, we define the extreme weather risk as Risk = hazard * vulnerability = P(negative consequences) * V[f(exposure, susceptibility, coping capacity)] Based on this analytical approach, risk indicators for each mode and country are presented. Due to the techniques used in calculations, the risk indicator is by definition a relative indicator, and must not be considered as an absolute measure of risk. It is a very robust ranking system, first and foremost. Country-specific vulnerability indicators and hazard indicators following the climatological division are also presented. In general, countries with poor quality infrastructures combined with high transport volumes and population densities are naturally at most risk. ; This deliverable of EWENT project estimates the risks of extreme weather on European transport system. The main object of work package 5 in EWENT project was to perform a risk analysis based on impact and probability assessments carried out in earlier work packages (WP2-WP3). The results of WP 5 can be used as a starting point when deciding on the risk reduction measures, strategies and policies in the European Union. This deliverable also serves as a background material for the synthesis report (named shortly as Risk Panorama), which will summarise the findings of risk assessment and previous work packages. The methodological approach of EWENT is based on the generic risk management standard (IEC 60300-3-9) and starts with the identification of hazardous extreme weather phenomena, followed by an impact assessment and concluded by mitigation and risk control measures. This report pools the information from EWENT's earlier work packages, such as risk identification and estimation, into a 'risk panorama' and provides a holistic picture on the risks of extreme weather in different parts of Europe and EU transport network. The risk assessment is based on the definition of transport systems' vulnerability to extreme weather events in different countries and on calculations of the most probable causal chains, starting from adverse weather phenomena and ending up with events that pose harmful consequences to the transport systems in different climate regions. The latter part, the probabilistic section, is the hazard analysis. The vulnerability of a particular mode in a particular country is a function of exposure (indicated by transport or freight volumes and population density), susceptibility (infrastructure quality index, indicating overall resilience) and coping capacity (measured by GDP per capita). Hence, we define the extreme weather risk as Risk = hazard * vulnerability = P(negative consequences) * V[f(exposure, susceptibility, coping capacity)] Based on this analytical approach, risk indicators for each mode and country are presented. Due to the techniques used in calculations, the risk indicator is by definition a relative indicator, and must not be considered as an absolute measure of risk. It is a very robust ranking system, first and foremost. Country-specific vulnerability indicators and hazard indicators following the climatological division are also presented. In general, countries with poor quality infrastructures combined with high transport volumes and population densities are naturally at most risk.
