Towards improving risk management: a review of risk control measures prioritization patterns and provision of a new conceptual framework

Nowadays, the vital role of risk management process in controlling hazards is evident. One of the main goals of this process is sought to control hazards through risk control measures. It seems, however, that the vital problem of evaluating risk control measures has been less studied. As a result, from a pool of risk control measures some are chosen and implemented just mentally without any evaluation or theoretical background. This problem can be considered as a critical factor in the risk management process due to resource restrictions of an organization. Given the importance of the process of evaluating risk control measures and ignoring it in most risk management processes, we reviewed advantages and disadvantages of the classification and prioritizing patterns of control measures extracted from literature. A conceptual framework was also proposed to develop a practical and comprehensive method in the process of evaluating risk control measures. Ethical considerations were observed in all stages of the study. The results revealed that most of the evaluation methods designed for risk control measures are not able to prioritize them accurately due to the use of inappropriate or limited criteria and methods. Based on the conceptual framework developed, it was suggested to create a practical and comprehensive method with regard to risk factors, quality factors (effectiveness, cost, reliability, duration, usability, and applicability) and Haddon hazard control matrix using multi-criteria decision-making methods in order to evaluate control measures.