Costs of Accidents, Costs of Safety, Risk-Based Economic Decision Making: Risk Management 9 To Be or Not to Be.. Is it nobler to put up with all the nasty things that luck throws your way, or to fight against all those troubles by simply putting an end to them once and for all? William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1 (modern text) SUMMARY Numerous decisions are made daily on conducting economically relevant activities involving hazards, hence each of these activities implies a risk. Risk taking is something that we do as a person on an individual basis everyday. Crossing a road as a pedestrian with approaching traffic in sight is commonplace, as well as a driver overtaking a car in front of him on a provincial road with oncoming traffic in sight. In any of these decisions, there is a weighing up front: gains versus risk of losses. In these simple examples the cost of an accident is high, the action could take yours or another person’s life, and the gains may not be very significantdjust a few seconds in time saved. With industrial accidents the situation is not different: given a certain process a shortcut on a procedure can be associated with a large safety riskdthe company can go bankrupt if the risk event materializes. However, gains in effort or time may be rather small, although these may be significant in surviving the competition better. Of course, the scale makes a difference. But, there may be many lives at risk (and as a decision maker, probably not your own life) and damage may run up from millions to billions, and it may have long-term effects on employment, and degradation of quality of life of people and the environment. Costs of an industrial accident are not only those of the company in a direct sense but also the personal cost of people involved and not the least the social and economic cost of society as a whole. Complexity may easily obscure the largest possible consequences of a process or a project. And even when one realizes the possibility, intuitively one is inclined to CHAPTER Risk Analysis and Control for Industrial Processes - Gas, Oil and Chemicals. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800057-1.00009-2 Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 383