Abstract: | Risk management entails knowledge of the risk and how best to reduce it; its objective is to minimize losses arising from existing or potential risk. With effective contingency planning, risk analysis and its corollary, consequence analysis, can contribute synergistically to improved risk management. Until recently, risk analysis and contingency or emergency response planning were considered distinct disciplines with little interactive potential. Fortunately, industry now recognizes that linking the two can help ensure public safety as well as preserve the financial integrity of plant owners. Both areas are receiving increased and well-deserved attention; several incidents in recent years have demonstrated that losses could have been greatly reduced if better precautions and procedures had been in place as a result of risk analysis and contingency planning. |