5 Basic Risk Assessment Concepts API

580 – 17 terms
______ is something that we as individuals live with on a day-to-day basis. Knowingly or
unknowingly, people are constantly making decisions based on ______.

Simple decisions such as driving to work or walking across a busy street involve risk. More
important decisions such as buying a house, investing money, and getting married all imply an
acceptance of _____.

Life is not ____-free and even the most cautious, ____-adverse individuals inherently take ____.

Some people take more ____ than others (knowingly or unknowingly), e.g. skydivers, mountain
climbers, coal miners, and people who drive while intoxicated.

_____ is the combination of the probability of some event occurring during a time period of interest
and the consequences, (generally negative) associated with the event. In mathematical terms, risk can
be calculated by the equation:

____ = Probability × Consequence

a) Risk
b) Consequence
c) Failure
d) Damage

Effective risk assessment should be a ________________________________.

a) rational, logical, structured process

The two steps at least contains the effective risk assessment are: _______________________

a) Determine how big the risk is; and to determine whether the risk is acceptable.
b) Determine QRA and Qualitative assessment
c) PHA and PSM
d) Probability of failure and consequences

Likelihood is sometimes used as a synonym for _______, however _________ is used throughout this
document for consistency.

a) probability
b) consequence
c) risk
d) tolerances
Once the risk is known it is time for ______________. At first, it may seem that risk management and
risk reduction are synonymous. However, risk reduction is only part of risk management. Risk
reduction is the act of mitigating a known risk that is deemed to be too high to a lower, more
acceptable level of risk with

a) Risk management
b) Mitigating management
c) RBI inspection
d) Sensitivity analysis

The following is the act of mitigating a known risk that is deemed to be too high to a lower, more
acceptable level of risk with some form of risk reduction activity.

a) Risk analysis
b) Risk reduction
c) Risk evaluation
d) Risk drivers

Is a process to assess risks, to determine if risk reduction is required and to develop a plan to
maintain risks at an acceptable level. By using risk management, some risks may be identified as
acceptable so that no risk reduction (mitigation) is required.

a) Risk management
b) Risk Evaluation
c) Risk mitigation
d) Risk drivers

The following is the elements about the philosophy in codes and standards such as API 570, API 510
and API 653, except:

a) Inspection intervals/due dates based on some percentage of equipment life (such as half life),
b) On-stream inspection in lieu of internal inspection based on low deterioration rates,
c) Predictive analysis
d) Internal inspection requirements for damage mechanisms related to process environment induced
cracking,
e) Consequence based inspection intervals/due dates.

RBI represents the next generation of inspection approaches and interval/due date setting
___________________________________________________________________________________.
RBI, as a risk-based approach, focuses attention specifically on the equipment and associated
damage mechanisms representing the most risk to the facility. In focusing on risks and their
mitigation, RBI provides a better linkage between the mechanisms that lead to equipment failure
(loss of containment) and the inspection approaches that will effectively reduce the associated risks.
Though there can be many definitions for failure of pressure equipment, in this document, failure is
defined as loss of containment.

a) Recognizing that the ultimate goal of inspection is the safety and reliability of operating facilities
b) Recognizing the last inspection
c) Evaluation the actual situation
d) Optimizing the actual mitigating

The complexity of a risk analysis is a function of the _____________________________and there is a

a) number of factors that can affect the risk

The following is progression on risk analysis except:

a) Collect and validate the necessary data and information (see Section 8);
b) Identify damage mechanisms and, optionally, determine the damage mode(s) for each mechanism
(e.g. general metal loss, local metal loss, pitting) (see Section 9);
c) Determine damage susceptibility and rates (see Section 9);
d) Determine the POF over a defined time frame for each damage mechanism (see Section 10);
e) Determine credible failure mode(s) [e.g. small leak, large leak, rupture (see Section 10)];
f) Identify credible consequence scenarios that will result from the failure mode(s) (see Section 11);
g) Collect the mitigating values
h) Determine the probability of each consequence scenario, considering the POF and the probability that a
specific consequence scenario will result from the failure (see Section 11);
i) Determine the risk, including a sensitivity analysis, and review risk analysis results for
consistency/reasonableness (see Section 12).

The risk analysis should be _________________. Any particular analysis may not yield usable results
due to a lack of data, low-quality data or the use of an approach that does not adequately
differentiate the risks represented by the equipment items. Further, analysis results may not be
realistic.

a) validated before decisions are made based on the analysis results

Once a realized a risk analysis the next phase is ____________ and, if necessary, other mitigation
actions, and evaluate the residual risk

a) Develop an inspection plan

If the risk is not acceptable, ____________. For example, if the damage mode is general metal loss, a
mitigation plan could consist of on-stream wall thickness measurements, with a requirement to shut
down or to repair on-stream if the wall thickness measurements do not meet Fitness-For-Service
acceptance criteria.

a) consider mitigation
b) consider sensitivity
c) consider risk management
c) consider inspection plan
When the risk associated with individual equipment items is determined and the relative
effectiveness of different inspection techniques and process monitoring in reducing risk is estimated
or quantified, then:

a) Adequate information is available for planning, optimizing, and implementing an RBI program.
b) Sensitivity analysis
c) Mitigating analysis
d) Pitfall analysis

The residual risk factors for loss of containment except:

a) Human error,
b) Natural disasters,
c) External events (e.g. collisions or falling objects),
d) Secondary effects from nearby units,
e) Consequential effects from associated equipment in the same unit,
f) Deliberate acts (e.g. sabotage),
g) Fundamental limitations of inspection methods,
h) Design errors,
i) Extinct fire
j) Unknown or unanticipated mechanisms of damage.

Many of these factors are strongly influenced by the PSM system in place at the facility.

The complexity of risk calculations is a function of the number of factors that can affect the risk.
Calculating absolute risk can be very time and cost consuming and often cannot be done with a high
degree of accuracy, due to having too many uncertainties. Many variables are involved with loss of
containment in hydrocarbon and chemical facilities and the determination of absolute risk numbers
is often not even possible and not cost effective. RBI is focused on a systematic determination
____________. In this way, facilities, units, systems, equipment, or components can be ranked based
on their ________. This serves to focus the risk management efforts on the higher ranked risks and
allow decisions to be made on the usefulness of risk management efforts on lower ranked risks.
If a quantitative RBI study is conducted rigorously and properly, the resultant risk number should
be a fair approximation of the actual risk of loss of containment due to deterioration. Numeric
______________ values determined in qualitative and semi-quantitative assessments using
appropriate sensitivity analysis methods also may be used effectively to evaluate risk acceptance.

a) evaluation risk
b) estimation risk
c) relative risk
d) absolute risk