Reconceptialization of risk management involving public perception and technical risk assessment
Environmental protection policies traditionally have been predicated on the assumption that standards to control risk should be based on technical risk assessment. This approach has not always been successful, as the public does not always respond in ways commensurate with the risk characterization put forward by the scientific community. Although governments have attempted to increase public participation in the policy development process, their efforts have often reinforced the fragmented nature of the risk assessment-risk management (RA-RM) process. As a result, public, expert, and regulatory values are incomplete. In the opinion of the authors, risk can be seen as a social construct. The task of the RA-RM process is to identify the nature of risk through a process of negotiation and dialogue with all interested parties. However, how should the RA-RM process be re-conceptualized to acknowledge that risk is a social construct? What should be the roles of scientific risk assessment and public values in an integrated process? And how can this objective be attained while retaining the integrity of the scientific process and while respecting the integrity of public values? This paper will summarize the results of an Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Energy project, undertaken during 1994, designed to address these issues and to identify strategic policies and operations to help the Ministry improve the effectiveness and public acceptability of its RA RM processes.
- OSTI ID:
- 31781
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9410273--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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