How to deal with and judge the numerical results of risk analysis

✍ Scribed by K. van Breugel

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 325 KB
• Volume: 67
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0045-7949
• DOI: 10.1016/s0045-7949(97)00167-3

✦ Synopsis

The question how to deal with and judge the numerical results of risk analysis has become of increasing importance now legislative authorities are more and more inclined to adopt these results as one of the cornerstones of decision making. The assumed objectivity and rationality of those numerical results constitute the major reason why these authorities have become inclined to do so. It is particularly the objectivity and rationality of risk ®gures which make people prepared to give theoretical risks a last word in decision making processes. At the same time we ®nd people who demonstrate their reluctancy with respect to risk analysis wherever they can by pointing to some obvious shortcomings of the traditional risk concept. In this paper some notorious problems concerning the application of the risk concept will be dealt with, such as the accuracy and reliability of theoretical risks and the ®xation of acceptance criteria. Emphasis will be on the multi-dimensionality of risks and the consequence of this for decision making processes.