Mitigating Marine Risks and Improving Decision-Making
Marine activities, such as shipping, are important to Canada’s economy and maritime communities. But they carry risks. For instance, disruptions in marine transportation can affect the delivery of goods as well as transport services for communities. Shipping risks, such as oil spills, can have large economic, environmental and socio-cultural impacts.
Clearly, having sound approaches to analyze, assess and control a variety of marine risks is important to support effective decision-making. This is where Dr. Floris Goerlandt, Canada Research Chair in Risk Management and Resource Optimization for Marine Industries, focuses his applied research: he develops frameworks, models and decision-support tools that can be used to better understand, analyze, assess and control marine risks, with a focus on safety and the environmental risks of shipping. Using an interdisciplinary approach, he and his research team are actively engaging with Canadian and international academic, governmental and industry stakeholders to achieve these goals.
It is also important to make sure that risk analyses and decision-support tools actually work—meaning they provide reliable, useful, timely information while acknowledging the limitations of available knowledge. But the importance of validating risk analyses has not received much explicit scientific attention.
Goerlandt’s work will support better decision-making and use of organizational resources by advancing the scientific understanding of risk validation. Ultimately, his research on risk analysis and decision-support tools for marine risks will contribute to safe, environmentally sustainable shipping in Canada and abroad.