Risky business.

• Author: Vehaun, David B.
• Position: Operational Risk Management: A Case Study Approach to Effective Planning and Response - Book review

Operational Risk Management: A Case Study Approach to Effective Planning and Response

By mark D. Abrowitz

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

2008, 278 pages, $50

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Risk assessment is an important responsibility for the governmental manager. Preparing for multiple contingencies can be an intimidating task--particularly in these uncertain times. Operational Risk Management: A Case Study Approach to Effective Planning and Response identities risk factors that governments may face and offers solutions to these challenges through individual case studies.

Abkowitz prefaces the case studies comprising this book with a discussion of why disasters happen. In answer to this question, he organizes disasters into three categories: 1) accidents that result from some human action or inaction; 2) terrorist acts that are purposefully destructive; and 3) natural disasters that are mostly the result of weather or earthquakes. The inevitable human tragedy that results from these three types of disasters is invariably aggravated by certain risk factors that are often overlooked or ignored, ultimately compromising the safety of citizens and often worsening already-desperate conditions.

The author identifies 10 risk factors that can either cause a disaster or exacerbate an existing situation. They are covered in brief detail and enable the reader to frame each ensuing case study in terms of what could have been done to prevent, or at least mitigate, each disaster. For example, design and construction flaws were a major risk factor in the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster. Similarly, the 1994 South Canyon fire tragedy in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and the 1984 toxic gas disaster in Bhopal, India, can be blamed primarily on communication failures that existed at the time of the incidents. Other risk factors such as deferred maintenance, inadequate training, and lack of planning and preparedness can also be seen in many of the case studies. Abkowitz leads the reader through each study and identifies significant violations of one or more of these risk factors that inevitably lead to some tragic conclusion.

Abkowitz also develops a risk factor scorecard that contains a list of the 10 risk factors and matches them against the case studies. He analyzes each case study and makes a determination regarding which risk factors were prevalent. For example, the scorecard shows that the cause of the 2005 London transit bombings...