Risk Analysis Commons^™

Co-Operation In Health And Safety: A Game Theory Analysis, Sylvie Nadeau

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Health and safety managers face complex challenges in today’s production environments. They are confronted with increasingly flexible, autonomous and polyvalent contexts. Asymmetry of information on the workplace is widespread because various intervening parties rely on information lacking conformity. Social partners generate and use information which supports or benefits their pursuit of differing goals. Ascertaining and controlling this information can prove both difficult and costly. When addressing health and safety issues, one intervening partner alters or changes behavior in response to changes introduced by the other side. Strategic behaviors result, based on post-contract opportunism (moral hazard) and alliances with partners …

Risk Perception Regarding Energy Production: Factor Structure In A French Sample, Etienne Mullet, Anne Bertrand, Cécilia Lazreg, Sheila Rivière Shafighi

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "Considering that energy production is a key factor in the development of nations, it is important to have detailed information on the risks attributed by lay people to the different types of energy as well as the different stages of energy production. This study reports on the structure of risk perception with regard to energy production found among French participants. There have already been many investigations of risk perception related to energy production. . . .

The present study is a direct extension of the Mullet study. A similar, although more complete, set of items was used. These items …

Reply To Dr. Tengs’ Response, Lisa Heinzerling

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "The primary aim of my article “Five-Hundred Life-Saving Interventions and Their Misuse in the Debate Over Regulatory Reform” was to dispel the myth that had grown up around the studies Dr. Tammy Tengs published with Dr. John Graham: that is, the idea that government regulation is responsible for, in Dr. Graham’s words, the “statistical murder” of 60,000 people in the United States every year. As I demonstrated in my article, nothing in the work of Drs. Tengs and Graham supports Dr. Graham’s recurring charge of statistical murder through regulation. And nothing in Dr. Tengs’ response to my article casts …

A Response To Lisa Heinzerling's Article “Five-Hundred Life-Saving Interventions And Their Misuse In The Debate Over Regulatory Reform”, Tammy O. Tengs

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] "I am writing in response to Lisa Heinzerling's article “Five-Hundred Life-Saving Interventions and Their Misuse in the Debate Over Regulatory Reform,”1 published in the Spring 2002 issue of Risk: Health, Safety & Environment. Dr. Heinzerling comments on two papers that my colleagues and I, affiliated with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, produced as part of research funded by the National Science Foundation over a decade ago. The first is the article “Five-Hundred Lifesaving Interventions and Their Cost-Effectiveness,” published in the journal Risk Analysis in 1995. In this article we described the cost per year of lives saved of …

Introduction: The Challenge Of Risk Communication In A Democratic Society, Richard C. Rich, Robert J. Griffin, Sharon M. Friedman

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The symposium editors review key issues concerning the relationship between risk communication and public participation.

Physical And Managed Risk Of Nuclear Waste, Lennart Sjöberg, Britt-Marie Drottz-Sjöberg

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors describe their work on the perceived risk of nuclear waste in Sweden. Three levels of waste were studied, and comparisons between the perceptions of the public, politicians and nuclear experts are made.

Review Of: Richard 0. Gamble Ii, How To Reduce Professional Liability For Engineers And Architects, Erik C. Swanson

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Review of Richard 0. Gamble II, How to Reduce Professional Liability for Engineers and Architects (Noyes Data Corporation 1987) Foreword, references, index, table of cases. LC: 87-12256; ISBN: 0-8155-1128-0. [102 pp. Cloth $36.00. Mill Road, Park Ridge NJ 07656.]

Acceptable Risk: A Conceptual Proposal, Baruch Fischhoff

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Challenging the "de minimis risk" concept, Dr. Fischhoff argues that risks ought not to be considered apart from a particular technology's benefits. He argues, too, that the acceptability of particular kinds of risks should not be determined without considering the views of all persons who may be exposed. Finally, building upon the "reasonable person" construct, he suggests ways those goals might be achieved.

Economic Impacts Of Noxious Facilities: Incorporating The Effects Of Risk Aversion, Leslie A. Nieves

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The author suggests an integrative approach for projecting economic impacts of facilities that elicit public Risk aversion. She incorporates both economic stimulus effects and perception-based effects of facilities on the host area economy. Empirical findings are compared and an impact estimation framework is suggested for integrating psychometric and econometric techniques.

The Safety Risks Of Proposed Fuel Economy Legislation, John D. Graham

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Based on, e.g., a comprehensive assessment of what is known of factors influencing automobile safety, previous industry responses to requirements for fuel economy and prior success of regulators in reducing injuries, Professor Graham concludes that pending fuel economy bills are apt to add 1650 fatalities and 8500 serious accidents to the annual highway toll. He also presents several short-term and long-term strategies for simultaneously saving fuel and lives.

Nothing Recedes Like Success - Risk Analysis And The Organizational Amplification Of Risks, William R. Freudenburg

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Professor Freudenburg believes that there is room for improvement in Risk analysis, particularly in drawing on systematic studies of human behavior in the calculation of real, empirical probabilities of failure. The need is argued to be especially acute where technological Risks are associated with low expected probabilities of failure and are managed by human organizations for extended periods of time. This permits complacency to set in.

Reply To Valverde, Paul B. Thompson

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Professor Thompson responds to Valverde's argument, in the last issue, that his approach to Risk puts too much emphasis on the distinction between Risk subjectivism and Risk objectivism. In doing so, he asserts, inter alia, that anchoring Risk judgments in a probabilistic framework does not go far enough in rejecting reigning Risk-analysis notions of "real Risk."

Summary Of Workshop To Review An Omb Report On Regulatory Risk Assessment And Management, John S. Evans, John D. Graham, George M. Gray, Adrienne Hollis

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Summary of the results of an invitational workshop conducted to peer review the 1990 OMB report, CURRENT REGULATORY ISSUES IN Risk ASSESSMENT AND Risk MANAGENMENTIN REGULATORY PROGRAM OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, APRIL 1, 1990 - MARCH 31, 1991.

The Risk Of Reliance On Perceived Risk, Frank B. Cross

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Professor Cross's comment is closely related to the debate between Thompson and Valverde. Using examples that do not commonly appear in the "Risk" literature, he argues that: Giving weight to perceived Risk may seem liberal insofar as it gives more say to the "little guy," but giving perceived Risk too much weight could have distinctly illiberal social consequences.

The Cognitive Status Of Risk: A Response To Thompson, L. James Valverde

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Discussing the role that probability theory should play in Risk analysis and management, Dr. Valverde argues that Thompson's approach puts too much emphasis on the distinction between Risk subjectivism and Risk objectivism in addressing the question, "When are Risks real?"

The Role Of Scientists In Risk Assessment, Halina Szejwald Brown, Robert L. Goble

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The authors argue that Risk assessors belong to a profession and offer an alternative to the 1983 National Research Council model defining Risk assessment. They support and illustrate their model by reexamining three familiar Risk assessments: ethylene dibromide, WASH 1400, and Ice Minus Bacteria.

Perceived Risks Versus Actual Risks: Managing Hazards Through Negotiation, Kristin S. Shrader-Frechette

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

The author describes what she calls the "Expert-Judgment Strategy", finding that, because it discounts lay perceptions of Risk, it interferes with the acceptance of important but Risky technologies.

Risk Objectivism And Risk Subjectivism: When Are Risks Real, Paul B. Thompson

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

Typically, those who discuss Risk management envision a two-step process wherein, first, Risk is more or less objectively appraised and, second, the acceptability of those Risks is subjectively evaluated. This paper questions the philosophical foundations of that approach.

Scientific Method, Anti-Foundationalism, And Public Decision-Making, Kristin Shrader-Frechette

RISK: Health, Safety & Environment (1990-2002)

An examination of the legitimacy of attacks on lay assessments of environmental or other technological Risk. The case is made that rational policy requires an epistemology in which what we believe about Risk is bootstrapped onto how we should act concerning Risk.