49006 Risk Management in Engineering
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Credit points: 6 cp
Subject level:
Postgraduate
Result type: Grade and marksRequisite(s): 120 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10061 Bachelor of Engineering Diploma Engineering Practice OR 120 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10066 Bachelor of Engineering Science OR 120 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10067 Bachelor of Engineering OR 120 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C09067 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Diploma Professional Engineering Practice OR 120 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C09066 Bachelor of Engineering (Honours)
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Description
Risk management is an essential activity that needs to be undertaken in all engineering and complex systems. It is a key part of an organisation’s safety management system, that provides stakeholders with the process, tools and techniques, to ensure risks are managed to acceptable levels through the projects’ and systems’ lifecycle. This subject provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the risk management process and its application to engineering systems. Students learn to apply risk assessment techniques to examples and case-studies set in the engineering context. The knowledge and tools learned can also be applied outside the engineering systems, to support risk management relating to workplace health, safety and environment, security, and business.
Subject learning objectives (SLOs)
Upon successful completion of this subject students should be able to:
| 1. | Incorporate the values of culture and history of Indigenous communities in risk analysis studies and the development of risk management plans. (A.1) |
|---|---|
| 2. | Identify stakeholders, boundaries and uncertainties in engineering projects and systems. (B.1) |
| 3. | Assess, evaluate, prioritise, and treat risks in engineering projects and systems lifecycle. (C.1) |
| 4. | Develop risk management plans for engineering projects and systems in accordance with appropriate risk management standards. (D.1) |
Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)
This subject also contributes specifically to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs):
- Indigenous Professional Capability: FEIT graduates are culturally and historically well informed, able to co-design projects as respectful professionals when working in and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. (A.1)
- Socially Responsible: FEIT graduates identify, engage, and influence stakeholders, and apply expert judgment establishing and managing constraints, conflicts and uncertainties within a hazards and risk framework to define system requirements and interactivity. (B.1)
- Design Oriented: FEIT graduates apply problem solving, design thinking and decision-making methodologies in new contexts or to novel problems, to explore, test, analyse and synthesise complex ideas, theories or concepts. (C.1)
- Technically Proficient: FEIT graduates apply theoretical, conceptual, software and physical tools and advanced discipline knowledge to research, evaluate and predict future performance of systems characterised by complexity. (D.1)
Contribution to the development of graduate attributes
Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competencies
Students enrolled in the Master of Professional Engineering should note that this subject contributes to the development of the following Engineers Australia Stage 1 competencies:
- 1.4. Discernment of knowledge development and research directions within the engineering discipline.
- 1.6. Understanding of the scope, principles, norms, accountabilities and bounds of sustainable engineering practice in the specific discipline.
- 2.1. Application of established engineering methods to complex engineering problem solving.
- 2.2. Fluent application of engineering techniques, tools and resources.
- 3.4. Professional use and management of information.
Teaching and learning strategies
Students will engage in weekly workshops that will develop their skills in identifying and assessing risks and developing risk management plans for engineering projects and systems. Each week, before class, students will explore real-world case study material through reading, viewing and researching. During class, students will be introduced to contemporary risk techniques, tools, principles and standards, and then apply them to the case study via a series of exercises. Collaboration is encouraged throughout the workshops to scaffold some of the independent work required in the assessments. Students will receive early, formative feedback on their skill in identifying stakeholders, boundaries and uncertainties in engineering projects and systems. This will assist them as they proceed to assess, evaluate, prioritise, and treat risks in a particular case study. Students will then jointly review peers’ work in this area to collaborate on the development of a risk management plan. In addition, students will learn to identify, assess and plan for risk associated with engineering projects and systems as they pertain to Indigenous communities.
Content (topics)
- Risk terminologies of hazard, risk, safety, accident
- Risk management process, principles, and standards
- Risk diagnostic and analysis
- Risk evaluation
- Risk treatment and reduction
- Risk communication and governance
- Risk-based decision-making
- Natural hazards, Natechs and domino effects
Assessment
Assessment task 1: Topic and Case Study Analysis
| Intent: | For students to predict and avoid failures due to human factors, design flaws, materials failure and extreme conditions. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives (SLOs): 1 and 2 This assessment task contributes to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs): A.1 and B.1 |
| Type: | Report |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 20% |
| Length: | 2500 to 3000 words |
Assessment task 2: Risk Management Plan
| Intent: | For students to apply risk management principles and processes conforming with AS ISO 31000: 2018 in a case study |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives (SLOs): 1, 2, 3 and 4 This assessment task contributes to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs): A.1, B.1, C.1 and D.1 |
| Type: | Report |
| Groupwork: | Group, group assessed |
| Weight: | 30% |
| Length: | 5500 to 6000 words |
Assessment task 3: Quantitative Risk Assessment and Decision Making
| Intent: | For students to research their topic, assess, evaluate, and treat risks using quantitative risk assessment and risk-based decision-making techniques in a case study. |
|---|---|
| Objective(s): | This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives (SLOs): 3 This assessment task contributes to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs): C.1 |
| Type: | Report |
| Groupwork: | Individual |
| Weight: | 50% |
| Length: | 4000 to 4500 words |
Minimum requirements
In order to pass the subject, a student must achieve an overall mark of 50% or more.
References
Textbooks:
[1] Meyer, T., & Reniers, G. (2016): Engineering risk management, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.
[2] Modarres, M. (2016): Risk analysis in engineering, techniques, tools, and trends, CRC press.
[3] Modarres, M., Kaminskiy, M. P., & Krivtsov, V. (2016): Reliability engineering and risk analysis: a practical guide, CRC press.
[4] Fenton, N., Neil, M. (2019): Risk assessment and decision analysis with Bayesian networks, CRC Press.
Standards:
[5] AS ISO 31000: 2018 Risk Management Principles and Guidelines
[6] AS/NZS IEC 31010: 2020 Risk Assessment Techniques
Other resources
Online support for this subject is provided through Canvas at https://canvas.uts.edu.au/