Safety Risk Matrices - Identifying What is Appropriate for Your Business or Undertaking

White, T. A.

The use of risk matrices as a risk measurement tool is a common feature in System Safety as it is naturally reflective of the fact that risk has dimensions of both probability and consequence. Whilst the means of safety risk measurement is common, the different risk matrices in use are myriad both in terms of their probabilistic and consequence definitions, but also the granularity of those axes. Often risk matrices are encountered as a tool of organization or company, are generally accepted at face value, and are rarely questioned- they are merely the way we measure risk here. But what are their origins, are they a fundamental element of the safety argument, and are they constant or do they require periodic recalibration (e.g. with the growth of automation)? This paper examines the thinking behind determining an appropriate safety risk matrix for an organisation, one that can be argued as being reasonable and practicable for the undertaking. As a case study, the paper draws on a real life rail problem encountered when happening across an inappropriate risk matrix and establishing and justifying an alternative, which focused on the needs of a modern railway whilst taking into account the existing risk environment and local safety risk influences.

Cite as: White, T. A. (2013). Safety Risk Matrices - Identifying What is Appropriate for Your Business or Undertaking. In Proc. Australian System Safety Conference (ASSC 2013) Adelaide, Australia. CRPIT, 151. Cant, T. Eds., ACS. 29-36

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