As instructors in PM we are often asked to help students distinguish between Secondary and Residual Risk.
Let’s learn a little from the (ongoing) Deepwater Horizon oil situation.
As you know, the current efforts (risk responses or treatments) are all about surrounding the oil slick, attempting to shut off, or capture the flow of oil, and to disperse the oil with chemicals called dispersants. This is to break up the oil into smaller globules and to give it the freedom to spread not only out, but down as well. As it turns out, however, the chemicals used to do this may be at least as dangerous as the oil itself.
This is covered very well in the following article from Propublica.
Read the article, then come back here.
Welcome back. You did read it, right? If not, we’ll give you one more chance.
OK…really now, welcome back!
The treatment or response to the risk has caused a new risk. This a textbook example of secondary risk.
It’s different from residual risk. Residual risk would be the oil (or residue) that remains even after treatment. Actually it’s a pretty good mnemonic . Residue–> Residual.
Our sister site has blogged on this subject as well, in a posting which uses – of all things – falling out of an airplane – as an analogy. It’s called “oh chute!”. Check that out, too.
