Operational Safety Economics

Preface

With this book, it is our intention to fill the existing gap between the academic literature on operational safety economics within organizations, on the one hand, and the industrial situation and needs regarding the topic, on the other. The gap is wide and the bridge is difficult to construct due to the complexity and broadness of the topic and the variety of different viewpoints, perceptions and stakeholders.

The economic concepts, models and theories are explained in this book as simply as possible, but – of course – no simpler than necessary. Nevertheless, it was often a challenge to strip down the existing academic insights into clearly understandable and user-friendly practical know-how. We have provided straightforward theoretical examples and exercises and illustrated with industrial usable and credible examples wherever possible.

The book is written from the perspective of microeconomics, i.e., the single company wishing to bring more economic-related knowledge into the company's decision-making process with respect to safety. The objective is to improve decision-making based on economic approaches, models and information. Risks are considered relative, and decisions need to be made to decrease risks or certain aspects of risks, relative to other risks, or aspects of risks. Hence, this book is intended to guide the user into how risk decision-making can be improved from a single organization's viewpoint. Even if a company's safety figures are already very good, ...