CVEN30008: Engineering Risk Analysis

A 2 hour exam (60%), 2 group assignments (30%) and tutorial attendance (10%)

This subject is useful for anyone wanting to become an engineer, as it makes you think about all the risks present on the worksite and how to mitigate them to safe levels. The subject starts off with qualitative risk analysis, which seems to rely on guesstimating risks through commonsense. It's irritating for someone like me who likes numbers and dealing with quantitative results.

For this component of the subject, we had an assignment where we had to come up with a risk analysis of a project. It seemed quite overwhelming, but tutors were lenient.

The next component dealt with quantitative risk analysis, which was basically learning about applying probability theory. We looked over normal, binomial, Poisson and t-distributions. We then looked at things such as confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, and linear regression.

We then had an assignment where we applied this to a mine, to determine how to minimise excavation costs and maximise safety.

The exam is equally split among the qualitative component and quantitative component. The quantitative component is really easy to prepare for, however the qualitative part is harder, as it's not covered that much in tutorials. This is what caused me to haemorrhage marks in the exam. I'd argue rote-learning the lectures (especially the points in AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 risk standard).

Yes, with/without screen capture

Dr Lihai Zhang along with guest lecturers

No. Sample quantitative questions provided

3/5

There are prescribed texts, but I didn't find them necessary.

2 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 1 hour tutorials

2016, Semester 1

P

Qualitative Risk Group Assignment 15%, Quantitative Risk Group Assignment 15%, Tutorial Attendance 10%, 2 hour Exam 60%

Probably the easiest engineering/science/maths subject you can find at level 3 (and also has no prerequisites or required background knowledge). Even first year maths is harder than this subject. Having said that, industry-related content is genuinely interesting and valuable for getting a foot in the door for industry work potential. Pretty much everything is summed up quite well in this previous review, but I will add:
- The actual course content ends in week 7 or 8 (I don't remember); that's where the guest lecturers come in to deliver their talks. It may be tempting to skip these lectures but I highly recommend going,

Yes, with screen capture

Lihai Zhang (Subject coordinator) and guest lecturers from several engineering firms (5 from memory)

No

4 Out of 5

None

2x50 minute lectures + 1x50 minute tutorial per week

2014 Sem 1

H2A

Quantitative Risk Group Assignment 15%, Qualitative Risk Group Assignment 15%, Tutorial Attendance 10%, Exam 60%

This subject is very, very easy for a level 3. It's called risk analysis, but it could really be called "applications of common sense". It is designed to be just a general risk course, but as it is a core subject of the civil engineering majors it tends to have a greater focus on engineering risks rather than economic risks.

The subject is divided into three sections:
1. First three weeks is on qualitative risk analysis. You basically go over the definition of a risk, a hazard, identification and management strategies, and monitoring procedures. The lecturer for this section, Peter Bishop, is pretty good, but the material tends to get recycled through the 5 or so lectures, so this can be pretty dull and mundane. I'm sure you could get by without turning up by just scanning the lecture notes.

2. The next 5 weeks are on quantitative risk analysis. Lihai takes these and is very good despite it being a little difficult to understand what he is saying. These lectures basically consist of the applications (not derivations) of probability/statistical mathematics with concepts including distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, and monte carlo simulations. All concepts are illustrated with a tonne of examples, and there is nothing too complicated. You basically only need to know how to apply the formulas that are given rather than have a full understanding what the formula actually means.

3. The third section steps back into the qualitative side, with guest lecturers from engineering and financial firms giving a rundown on how risk is managed in their business. This is purely about drilling in the content from the first three weeks, and is also pretty unnecessary in regards to the assessment, but somewhat interesting nonetheless.

Both the assignments are group assignments, and groups of four are formed within the tutorial groups in week 1. You are given about 6 weeks to work on each assignment, but they are relatively easy and only take a few hours of solid work per group member to polish off. They aren't too difficult or onerous, but they are good at getting you to engage with the lecture content.

Probably the worst thing about the subject is the tutorials. They are basically just a review lecture, because the tutor talks the entire time about the previous week's content and goes through some questions. This would be useful if the content was somewhat challenging, but most of the material is either self-explanatory or explained well in the lectures making the tutes somewhat superfluous. Attendance is marked and counts for 10% of the assessment, so that (and meeting up with group members) was the only reason I turned up to most of them.
Overall, this is definitely not a subject to be scared of. Compared to most engineering subjects, it has a fairly limited scope and quite a slow pace. However, it is well taught and I'd even recommend it as a breadth if you wanted something that wasn't going to require much effort and were somewhat interested in the content, but presumably there is something more fun or valuable.

Yes

Lihai Zhang and a bevy of guest lecturers

No

3 out of 5

None. NONE!

2x50 minute lectures + 1x50 minute tutorial per week

Sem 1 2014

H1