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Responsible Management of Risk, Safety and Security

Vak
2024-2025

Admission requirements

Intended for all Bachelor students registered for the minor Responsible Innovation.

Description

Introduction to the field of risk and safety/ security based on various texts (book, scientific papers and book chapters). In the course, safety and security are considered from multiple perspectives (industrial safety, transport safety, organisational safety, societal safety, occupational safety, fire safety, structural safety, physical security, cyber security). Methods and techniques will be taught to model the factors which influence safety and security in these domains (technical-, human-, and organisational factors), by adopting a decomposition approach of the overall socio-technical system.
Methods and techniques of safety-by-design and security-by-design principles for systems and processes are taught to inherently reduce risks of failure during the life cycle of these systems and processes. Examples of fault-tolerant design, fail-safe design, fool/hufter-proof design in the above domains are discussed.

In this course, students will be introduced to safety and security risk management as it is applied in multiple domains. The focus is on how responsible decisions on safety and security, using the concepts of risk, can be made, in particular in the design phase of systems and processes.
Students learn to understand and use the concept of risk in safety and security settings, being aware of its benefits and limitations. They acquire practical knowledge and skills that allow them to describe the safety and security in qualitative and quantitative terms, to investigate the factors which have an impact on safety and security, and to derive and analyse decisions on safety- and security measures, made by risk managers.

The course starts with safety risk first (accidents), and then extends its scope to security risks (threats and attacks).

The following topics will be covered:

  • Introduction of important safety and risk concepts, such as probability, frequency, hazard/ threat, vulnerability, impact/ consequence

  • Short history of safety and risk thinking

  • The management of risk and safety in public and private organisations

  • Similarities and differences between safety and security risks

  • Quantitative and qualitative assessment of safety and security risks

  • Several risk analysis techniques such as fault/ attack trees, hazard–barrier–target HBT-model and bowties

  • The psychology of safety and security, human error

  • A systems view on safety/ security

During the course various reports on risk/ safety topics in media will be discussed.

Course objectives

After this course, students are able to:

  • Understand, apply, and quantify risk and related concepts in safety and security settings, as well as reasoning about these

  • Explain the similarities and differences between safety and security risks and their assessment

  • Understand the tasks and responsibilities of the safety/ risk manager or professional

  • Apply several safety and security risk analysis techniques such as fault and attack trees

  • Make well-founded decisions regarding safety or security issues and countermeasures, explain these choices and communicate them

Timetable

The timetables are available through My Timetable.

Mode of instruction

  • Lecture

  • Research (carried out in small groups of 4-5 students)

Assessment method

Assessment

  • One group assignment, to be published in a written report, and to be presented in a 30 min. presentation, followed by Q&A with the teaching staff and students.

  • Closed-book exam (individual).

All assignments/exercises have to be fulfilled in order to receive a passing grade.

Attendance in this course is mandatory. In case of no-show, the tutor should be informed about your absence prior to the actual seminar session. Only one lecture can be missed. If a second lecture is missed, an assignment will be given to compensate. If a third lecture is missed, a passing grade can no longer be obtained, unless permission is granted from the Board of Examiners (with consent of the Course Coordinator).

Weighing

  • Group assignment: 40%

  • Closed-book exam (individual): 60%

The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.

Resit

The students are allowed one resit per examination. It is not allowed to resit an examination or assignment for which they have received a pass. It is allowed to resit an examination or assignment which they haven't done during the first occasion. The resit format of the group assignment needs to be discussed with the teacher of the course in line with examination regulations. The resit of the closed-book exam shall be an oral examination. The faculty rules relating to participation in resit examinations can be found in article 4.1 of the faculty Course and Examination Regulations (OER).

Inspection and feedback

How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.

Reading list

  • Bernardus (Ben) Ale (2009). Risk: An introduction. Abingdon: Routledge (or e-book)

  • Additional material (including scientific papers, book chapters and videos) will be made available through Brightspace

Registration

Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory (only applies to Leiden students).
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.

Contact

  • For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.

  • For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal.

Remarks

None.