Risk-Informed Decision Making: Chapter 1 - Introduction to Risk-Informed Decision Making

Risk Informed Decision-Making (RIDM) is a method of dam safety evaluation that uses the likelihood of loading, dam fragility, and consequences of failure to estimate risk. This risk estimate is used along with standards- based analyses to decide if dam safety investments are justified or warranted. This approach has many benefits including a greatly improved understanding of the safety of the dam and identifying dam safety vulnerabilities that have not been identified using standards-based evaluation techniques.

This chapter introduces the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) RiskInformed Decision Making (RIDM) Guidelines (Risk Guidelines) that will be used to identify, analyze, assess, and manage the risks associated with FERC-regulated dams. This chapter provides a brief overview and framework for the dam safety risk process.