Fundamentals of Risk Management

FIgURE 
16.3
Hazard risk zones
Critical
line
Impact
Likelihood
Critical zone
Dominant response
will be
terminate
Comfort zone
Dominant response
will be
tolerate
Appetite
line
Concerned zone
Dominant response
will be
transfer
Cautious zone
Dominant response
will be
treat
Judgement line

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Risk response
192
Preventive controls
Table 16.1 provides a brief description of the nature of preventive controls. 
These are the most important type of risk controls, and all organizations will use 
preventive controls to treat certain types of risks. Prevention or elimination of
all risks is not possible on a cost-effective basis, nor may it be desirable for the future 
of the organization and the continuation of certain activities.
Examples of preventive controls include the separation of duty, whereby no
person has authority to act without the consent of another when paying an invoice. 
Also, expenditure systems should prevent the same person from ordering goods
and then authorizing the payment for them. In health and safety terms, preventive 
controls include the elimination or removal of the hazard and providing a less risky 
substitute. For example, a hazardous chemical used in a cleaning operation may be 
substituted with a less harmful alternative.
The advantage of preventive controls is that they eliminate the hazard, so that no 
further consideration of it is required. In reality, this may not be a cost-effective
option and may not be possible for operational reasons. The disadvantages of pre-
ventive controls are that beneficial activities may be eliminated and either outsourced 
or replaced with something less effective and efficient.
Health and safety practitioners refer to the elimination of hazardous activities
‘so far as is reasonably practicable’. Achieving something so far as is reasonably 
practicable involves the balance between cost in terms of time, trouble and money 
against the benefit in terms of the reduction in the level of risk that is achieved. For 
example, reducing the risk of collapse can be achieved in underground mines by the 
provision of support beams and props. However, the extent to which this is reasonably 
practicable will need to take into account the cost of providing these props against 
the level of risk reduction that would be achieved in that particular mine.