Discuss About The Surprise In Flood Risk Assessment Management.
The objective of risk perception focuses on the judgments made by people when they are asked to assess the risk of human response along with the technologies. It has been observed that human beings have fears in their minds, which is considered to be as one of the causes. A risk is an element that is involved among people and therefore, one must try to get rid of the risk factor as much as possible (Merz et al. 2015). If individuals try to overcome such fears and risk, they will be relieved from the possible fears and risk. The risk factor is associated with the process of understanding the response of the public in the matter of threat by providing the concept of policy-making. Human beings are capable to change the environment for setting the moods and helping them out to decrease the level of risks.
Previously, there have been harmful repercussions of the nuclear weapons that are commonly known to the individuals and focuses on the fact that if a risk is managed it can make a way to a better future. However, a risk is, therefore, known as human perception since it threatens them and gives rise to fears. Earlier, human beings used to have faith in visiting the church for coming up with a solution to the problem of risk they are facing. Analysing the risk and the problem is a better method of resolving the problems. Therefore, risk perception can be easily understood if the problems and issues are analysed clearly. The problems arising can be resolved quickly with the assistance of the management. Managing the problems essentially and with effort is important. Logic and structures can also be used and applied to deal and handle a particular risk. However, over the years, human beings have understood the process and concept of risk management. They had come with strategies to deal with the process of risk management. They have invested time and effort for the present development regarding eliminating the probability of risks in nature.
The disaster that has been chosen is the occurrence of floods. Such kind of a disaster led to a large-scale destruction due to which people have lost their lives. This incident had taken plenty of lives and shelter from human beings surviving in the city (Alexander 2017). It has been a threat to human beings surviving near the coastline. Individuals have been coming up with strategies to solve such disasters and to survive in such circumstances. Similarly, human beings with health issues started coming up with proper research and development to reduce the number of diseases that can be dangerous and harmful. Presently, there is an availability of drugs and medicines for curing the hazardous diseases. Although there are still such diseases that exist, which are considered to be non-curable. There are facts that state by consuming and in-taking drugs risk can occur. It has been observed by individuals that by consuming drugs, diseases like allergies occur and drugs can suit a few sets of individuals and not others. This is because individuals think that by doing drugs, one invites risk that might not be assessed. For instance, if human beings get affected by any kind of epidemic therefore only then the drugs should be released and not after a while. However, while providing drugs one must be careful enough to provide the suitable and appropriate drug so that it does not harm the individuals in a wrong way (Paton and Johnston 2017).
Societies have ways to perceive risk and accordingly decide what the people of society would do to reduce the cause of harm. The risk mentioned above is treated to be a natural calamity and therefore, it is out of human control. A risk is a situation that occurs when human beings are not ready to go through it. Natural disasters cause risk to human beings by claiming for their properties and lives and also by causing extreme damage to mankind (Budiyono et al. 2015). Perception of risk is purely personal and therefore there are possibilities that not all risks are equivalently important to every individual. If any human experiencing any kind of abnormal action then it will be considered as a paranormal activity. A risk is involved in the occurrence of such paranormal activities. Over the years, the safety of vehicles and other transport facilities have improved and increased. More safety features are being introduced to stop the occurrence of these activities. Similarly, in case of natural disasters, risk assessment strategies have been established and determined for the safety of human beings. Risks can, therefore, be segregated in two kinds. Firstly, equitable is a theory or concept that has a very little value to human beings since it is not possible to keep an eye on the occurrence and probability of any kind of calamity (Alfieri et al. 2015). Secondly, when a person is affected by the level of risk, it is considered as an inequitable risk. The individual getting affected due to natural calamities.
Generally, individuals link with the concept of risk with the advantage that those individuals can attain if they overcome such an obstacle (Hammond et al. 2015). Risk does not occur by informing the individuals. For instance, if an individual is requested to stay near a nuclear plant then it might not be acceptable in the same manner as there are possibilities of the plant to burst at any moment. On the other hand, if a human being gets employed in a nuclear plant with a salary of the high amount then he should be able to take the risk. Similarly, the flood probability can be established as per several methods (Falter et al. 2015). The several methods or measures include flood-prone areas depending on the level of accuracy and the kinds of management that are required from prohibiting it. There are existing objectives and principles that employs in measuring and calculating the levels of flood and the rate of flow. The rate of flow of flood is calculated based on the different magnitudes and the areas that are subjected to the occurrence of a flood. Assessments are done accurately by assessing and measuring the amount of flood occurred.
The risk of flood is a natural calamity that can be analysed and reduced by making a statistical analysis and applying the risk assessment strategies. The events of a flood can be analysed and monitored with the help of partial and annual duration series. The annual flood series depends on the maximum flood peak of every year. On the other hand, the partial duration refers to a series that is calculated and attained by taking all the flood peaks equal to a greater level. An approximate guess of the flood damage potential is an essential element in case of an effective flood damage program (Guo et al. 2014). With the help of statistical analysis of the stream flow records, it is generally not applicable in the urban areas. Therefore, there are groups of risk management that aims at helping out the victims strongly. The basic and chief goal of this group is to ensure that people are educated enough to react to certain emergencies and situations like this. They should be able to identify the risk and hazards and how to overcome them at the time of emergencies.
When various methods are applied, the risk occurred can be recognized and the following steps should be advocated for reducing it. For instance, the tsunami was a natural disaster that had occurred. It was considered as a massive flood that had led to an indestructible loss and plenty of lives were lost; for instance, when a victim has lost his property and other belongings due to the occurrence of the tsunami. This disaster had claimed plenty of loves along with the properties. Thus, a risk is generally about the fear of the unknown and such a fear can go beyond the highest probability of the incident. The tsunami was an incident that was unknown to all the living beings residing in the coastal regions (Shi et al. 2015). The perception level of risk plays a significant role since human beings are assured of the events and must be well equipped and educated to deal with these circumstances. However, the science here plays an essential role in making sure about the safety of people living in the society.
Society itself has a significant role to play in controlling the disaster. Disaster management acts as a strategy to resolve the issues and problems that have been arriving because of natural disasters. Therefore, society helps in the process of construction of the proper buildings that will not collapse and remain strong in situations like such natural disasters. It can be concluded stating that risk is considered as the state of mind of n individual based on the experiences of every person.
The selected jurisdiction for the analysis is Queensland where the Electrical Safety Act, 2002 puts in place various guidelines and regulations to ensure that safety officers take adequate measures to provide a work environment free from the risks of electrocution and other related hazards such as short circuit induced fires. In doing so the act provides for various measures to be adhered to by the safety officers when installing such equipment at a particular place. These measures are (Dekker 2014):
Thus in cases where there are safety measures that have not been implemented adequately the safety inspector can be legally pursued for liabilities for loss or damage caused in the same. In cases where the entire cause of the accident can be attributed to the safety officer, it would absolve the organization of all responsibility for the same (Spinardi, Bisby and Torero 2017). There is an implied obligation on all persons working in such an environment to ensure that they undertake hazardous activities with a degree of care expected of them. This thus places the organization in an extremely secured position where responsibilities for mishaps can be attributed to various other factors and authorities.
Under common law for an action for negligence, four tests are applied to determine liability (Epstein and Sharkey 2016). In the case of a collapse of a dam in Brazil, the defence could argue the four tests for negligence in the following way:
Causation- BHP had adhered to all required guidelines for the building of the dam. All safety measures were checked and the cause for the collapse is yet to be determined so it the cause of the accident cannot be attributed to the alleged negligence of the builder (Van Dam 2013).
Foreseeability test- BHP had incorporated all related safety measures and had adhered to all safety guidelines as required by law (Luntz et al. 2017). Thus in such a case liability cannot be attributed to them as they could not have reasonably foreseen such an accident occurring after complying with all safety requirements.
Controllability- This concerns the degree of control that the defendant had on the occurrence of the incident. Since the collapse occurred despite compliance with safety regulations and the collapse could not have been reasonably foreseen by BHP, it thus has no control over the accident and liability cannot be attributed to it.
Reasonableness- This test determines if such a claim of negligence is reasonable. In this case, there was no negligence on part of BHP as it complied with all required guidelines (thus meeting its duty of care) and thus such an alleged claim for negligence would not be reasonable.
Considering the position in all the four tests laid down it can be reasonably inferred that BHP was not negligent in its dealings when building the dam and thus an action for negligence would not succeed in court.
Risk assessment is the process that examines the safety of specific structure so that recommendations can be made based on the analysis of the risk factors can be made to analyse the decision-making activities. In the case of Samarco dam, the risk assessment factor is based on the decision-making activities of the managers of a firm. The decision-making is done keeping in mind the ways to reduce the risks and ensure that recurring activities do not take place. For example, proper care needs to be taken so that overflow of Samarco dam does not take place (Suter II 2016). Managers also need to identify the failure mode that may be considered as a way of estimating the risks. For example, during the rainy season, there may be chances of the overflow of the dam due to the excess water being stored. Hence, in order to formulate any type of risk assessment technique, the first factor that needs to be considered is the cost of implementing the risk management tactics.
Figure: Dam risk assessment
(Source: Li 2014)
The expenditure of the repairing the dam needs to be considered based on the manner in which the public is involved with the construction of the dams. Some of the dams need to be repaired at a high expense, as it needs care that is more proper. In the case of Samarco dam, the estimated expenditure that the senior managers may have to incur is the about $5.1 billion. This is mainly due to the excess damage caused by the dams during the opening of the floods. However, other sources report that about $3 billion needs to be spent for the repairing of the dam (Hanson et al. 2017). Therefore, this can be considered as the best way by which the senior managers can mitigate the damages done by the dam.
References
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