2. Risk evaluation criteria
Risk evaluation begins with the conception of appropriate risk acceptance criteria. Port and terminal operators identify potential hazards strictly related with ship hazards, when the ship is approaching or leaving the port or is moored at a terminal. One reason for explicitly mentioning Risk Acceptance is the need to focus management’s attention on this issue, which would otherwise be only superficially treated. “Risk evaluation” is the official term at IMO (FSA Guidelines MSC 72/16) and reflects the organisation’s position that risks are not acceptable; yet decisions involving risks are accepted because their benefits are deemed to outweigh the risks. The maritime sector has widely accepted the ALARP risk criteria, the British risk acceptability framework, widely recognised in Norway and other countries. It uses the following categories: unacceptable, tolerable and broadly acceptable risk. The tolerable risk is represented by the ALARP (As Low as Reasonably Practicable) region in F–N (frequency–number fatalities) of graph. The upper and lower boundary levels are calculated based on the long-term statistical data on accidents in relation with the revenue for an average ship. The calculation process for the ALARP is presented in Section 2.2. Tolerable risks shall be reduced as long as the risk reduction is not disproportionate to the costs or implementation cost beneficial Risk Control Options