Risk Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and Their Applications

15.7 Uses of PRA

As stated earlier, the reason to perform a risk assessment is to demonstrate safety to both the workers and the public, as well as, save cost by utilizing available funds in the most efficient manner. For the latter purpose, the PRA becomes a decision-making tool to assign resources such as component maintenance and replacement, or to let equipment with low consequence of failure operate with less upkeep. Implementation of engineered and administrative controls taking decisions from operators under duress, or to minimize/prevent misoperation, may be determined or warranted. The possibilities are unlimited and depend on the specific operation.

If utilized to demonstrate safety to obtain and/or maintain an operating permit, there may be certain regulatory and policy requirements that must be met to rely on the risk assessment. In such an environment, the validity of any decision-making tool must be scientifically defensible and the regulatory agencies have issued requirements for risk assessments used in permit issuance (4).