Analytical Methods Applications in Safety Engineering: A Training Monograph

摘要

In most safety engineering activities, as in most other engineering areas, the engineer has to evaluate specific situations and seek a course of action among alternatives. Typically, certain overall objectives must be achieved with limited resources and budgets. The engineer has to identify and propose feasible alternative actions; measure, evaluate, and compare these actions; and then recommend a preferred one among them. For instance, in reviewing the emergency equipment needs of a factory the engineer must decide between conflicting issues. On one hand, more equipment will improve safety levels, which is the engineer's objective, particularly if it is spread all over the factory. On the other hand, the budget is limited, and also, having too much equipment can cause confusion during an emergency. Furthermore, a lesser amount of equipment may well be sufficient is enough people are trained to use it effectively. Thus, it may be wise to divert some of the available budget toward training. The engineer must decide how much equipment to purchase and how much of the budget to divert to training. The solution to this problem may be approached by judgmental and qualitative methods, empirical methods, quantitative methods, or analytical methods.