Risk evaluations provide valuable information on the state-of-affairs of safety programs, protection systems, maintenance philosophy and risk analysis.  Risk quality assessments benefits positioning in the negotiation of insurance programs, and most importantly, provide the means to reduce loss potential by prioritizing risk improvement where applicable.  A survey consists of an initial meeting with plant participants where the consulting engineer will be informed about administrative, logistic and operational issues pertinent to the location.  Afterwards a tour of the facilities is conducted, following the flow of operations, to gather relevant information about construction, inherent hazards, implemented maintenance programs, storage arrangement and fire protection systems.  The duration of a loss control survey is largely dependent on the complexity of operations and extent of the location.  All observations made by the consulting engineer are shared with plant management in the closing meeting, identifying issues which may be critical requiring prompt attention.