Risk assessment

FEMA
Risk Management Series
Risk Assessment
A How-To Guide to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks
Against Buildings
FEMA 452 / January 2005
U.S. AIR FORCE
Department of Veterans Affairs
RISK MANAGEMENT SERIES
Risk Assessment
A How-To Guide to Mitigate
Potential Terrorist Attacks
Against Buildings
PROVIDING PROTECTION TO PEOPLE AND BUILDINGS
FEMA 452 / January 2005 www.fema.gov with cooperation from the
Department of Veterans Affairs
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of FEMA. Additionally, neither FEMA or any of its employees makes any warrantee, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, product, or process included in this publication. Users of information from this publication assume all liability arising from such use.
FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i
BACKGROUND
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed this Risk
Assessment, A How-To Guide to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks Against Buildings, to provide a clear, flexible, and comprehensive methodology to prepare a risk assessment. The intended audience includes the building sciences community of architects and engineers working for private institutions, building owners/operators/managers, and State and local government officials working in the building sciences community.
OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE
The objective of this How-To Guide is to outline methods for identifying the critical assets and functions within buildings, determining the threats to those assets, and assessing the vulnerabilities associated with those threats. Based on those considerations, the methods presented in this How-To Guide provide a means to assess the risk to the assets and to make risk-based decisions on how to mitigate those risks. The scope of the methods includes reducing