Case Study in Risk Evaluation for a Small-Scale Sea-Based Trial to Satisfy a New Operational Requirement

The duty holder for corporate risk has the responsibility to manage the corporate residual risk portfolio based on the operational profile of the corporate entity. When a new operational requirement is placed on the company, a risk assessment is required to make the risk profile of the new operation explicit to the duty holder. The completeness and accuracy of the information to support his operational decision and the corporate risk exposure is critical to the duty holder.This paper presents a real example of how the risk evaluation was actually done for a new operational requirement to carry out a series of sea-based trials using a small rigid inflatable vessel to evaluate prototype communication equipment. It proposes that corporate benefit balance was improved, since capability was extended with minimum potential for harm. Rather than a hypothetical example, this paper will discuss a real operational requirement, with rich meta-information and will follow through from trial specification, hazard identification to presentation of residual risk profile and operational recommendations.