Risk analysis; a tool to support decision making. But, who cares about the decisions?

摘要

The train accident at Asta, January 4th 2000 implied remarkable changes to the railway sector in Norway. The Norwegian National Railway Administration was harshly criticized for not having adopted "modern safety management", which in accordance with the accident investigation committee included use of risk and vulnerability analyses. Work was initiated immediately after the accident to comply with the modern safety management methodology. This work comprised risk analysis projects assigned to the risk analysis consultancies. This paper discusses the use of risk analyses in the transport sector, with the objective to clarify the extent of risk based decision making. The discussion refers to different risk perspectives and prerequisites for risk based decisions. To what extent is risk analysis important as support for decision making? Decision processes and the role of risk analysis in decision making are diffuse. The paper reports from a research project encompassing data from all transport sectors in Norway. The presentation is limited to the case of the railway sector.