External Hazards: Risk Assessment & Mitigation

How do you effectively assess and understand risks and improve future safety when it comes to external hazards, natural disasters, and extreme weather events?

Risk is the product of the hazard and the consequence. While the occurrence of hazards, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, is beyond our control, taking action to reduce the adverse consequences are. Quantification of the hazards and consequences, using formal scientific methods and sound engineering, provides the rational basis for allocating mitigation resources, and for making decisions regarding insurance coverage. As the world around us grows more complex, it becomes increasingly difficult to evaluate risks and optimize mitigation strategies. Risk may stem from natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes, and fires, or from man-made causes such as release of hazardous materials to the environment, and terrorist activities. All of these events can have significant life-safety, environmental, legal, and financial consequences over a large geographic area.

Risk evaluation and management requires a multidisciplinary approach with input and expertise from many fields, including structural and geotechnical engineering, geology, hydrology, ecology, chemical engineering, toxicology, life sciences, and statistics. Being a multidisciplinary organization, engineers and scientists at Exponent apply their diverse knowledge gathered from experience in natural and manmade hazards to evaluate risks associated with different hazards and determine potential losses.

Employing state-of-the-art technology, such as probabilistic Risk Analysis and Assessments (PRA), cost-effective risk reduction solutions, and GIS and remote sensing tools, Exponent delivers valuable data for environmental and property assessments. Exponent's multidisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists have consulted on earthquake, wildfire, and hurricane hazard assessment, evaluated wildfire damage and post-fire landslides throughout the U.S., evaluated earthquake and hurricane damage to buildings and other structures, wetland habit restoration, and more.  

Governments, businesses, insurance, utilities, and construction operations leverage Exponent's multidisciplinary services for preparation, assessment of current conditions, planning, and mitigating risk for future hazards.