Risk analysis in industry 

The need for risk analyses is growing rapidly as more and more decisions in modern society need to take account of the probability and consequences of unwanted events.

COWI has worked with risk analysis and risk evaluation since the beginning of the 1980's in a very wide variety of industries and fields, some of which are listed below:

• Installations with hazardous substances
• Transport and transport systems of all types
• Soil and ground water pollution
• Power generation
• Reliability and maintenance.
• Microbiological systems
• Major construction projects, building and demolition

Principles of risk analysis

A risk analysis starts by defining the scope of the analysis. This is followed by a systematic identification of the potential hazards and of the safety measures that are in place to block the dangerous sequence of events. The probability or frequency of each event is assessed and the possible consequences are modelled or estimated. A risk picture is created by combining the probabilities and consequences and an evaluation is made, of whether the risk is tolerable or if it needs to be reduced.

Installations with dangerous substances

COWI's risk analysis specialists have over 20 years experience from installations covered by the EU Seveso directive and from offshore oil and gas installations.

We participate in international R&D, and in Denmark we are leaders in the development of new methods that make risk analyses more understandable and of more practical use in daily loss prevention work at a site.