Introduction to Risk Management in Society

The course is a net-based distance learning course with a learning platform and an initial and concluding on-campus meeting in Karlstad with lectures, group work and examination seminars. Students complete mandatory assignments related to the learning outcomes. The assignments are individual and then discussed in groups. Critical assessment and problem solving abilities are enhanced by the student group analyses of submitted reports. The course comprises the following components: - introduction to the risk management programme and the modes of distance education with an emphasis on the web-based platform tool, - a general description of societal safety and risk management as a field of research and practice, - general outline of the structure of official society and the central actors, and of views and theories concerning promotion, empowerment, and systems theory, - an analysis of central laws and their application to risk management, - a review and analysis of accident investigations performed by different actors in society, - a description of a problem relevant to the field and the theoretical frames of this problem. The systematic safety work is discussed and placed in relation to the following two main foci: - the everyday accidents where the risks can be described in terms of epidemiology and the management in the form of local risk or injury preventive efforts, or - de major disasters and crises where the risks are conceived in the form of threats and complex system and management in terms of risk assessment, preparatory and preventive measures, and robustness. The course includes theory of science, systems theory and methods of text analysis, accident investigation and systematic literature study.