A review of the literature pertaining to 'perceived' risk and 'acceptable' risk and the methods used to estimate them
Abstract
The concept of an acceptable risk is an integral part of modern society. However,
when we attempt to determine what an acceptable risk is in a particular situation, we
have to consider questions such as 'to whom is the risk acceptable?' and 'where are the
likely costs (risks) and benefits likely to fall?'. People's perceptions of risk are an
important factor when determining a level of risk (or safety) for a particular activity
such as the location of a chemical plant, the building of a bridge, effluent disposal in
waterways, hydro fluorocarbon use and the many other hazardous activities that are
integral parts of our current way of life.
Risks are not new to society. Many risk levels have been reduced considerably as a
result of increased technical and scientific knowledge. However, people's perceptions
of risk and their tolerance of risk have changed significantly in the past 20-30 years as
greater publicity has been given to aspects of risk and failures of technical systems.
The expert's credibility has been threatened by incidents and disasters such as Three
Mile Island, Flixborough, Windscale and Bhopal. As a result, it has become
imperative that experts and decision makers take account of people's perceptions of
risk and their ability to tolerate or accept risk.
The literature on perceived risk and acceptable risk through a period of very rapid
change is examined in this publication Continuing development in this area means
that we must continue to monitor techniques for estimating perceived risk and also
explore the links with acceptable risk... [Show full abstract]
Keywords
acceptable risk; perceived risk; risk perception; risk assessment; decision making; risk managementDate
1990-05Type
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