Optimisation of Asset Management with Qualitative Risk Profiling

Assessing the risk in physical assets considers their multi-criteria criticality and the likelihood that they will no longer function as intended, thereby realizing risk. Quantifying this risk provides an important ranking scheme for prioritising investment and additional work on the assets to reduce the likelihood of the worst-case outcome. Criticality ranking assesses the magnitude of this outcome for a range of criteria and considers mitigating factors which are typically investments in control, redundancy of operation and fail-safe measures. The more complex consideration is the probability that the worst-case risk may be realized. This may be calculated either as a deterministic measure associated with physical degradation of the asset or a probabilistic estimate based on commonly collected maintenance and inspection information. This paper examines practical implementation of these considerations in complex facilities which comprise thousands of assets. Consideration is given to how risk may be better managed once it is quantified.