TABLE OF CONTENTS The previous chapter was concerned with the technical and scientific process of risk assessment. This chapter is concerned with risk management, a process that involves societal and political judgements as well as technical considerations. The two are not easily separated. Risk management (OECD, 2003) consists of three elements:
risk evaluation;
emission and exposure control and
risk monitoring.
Risk evaluation (OECD, 2003) is defined as:
Establishment of a qualitative or quantitative relationship between risks and benefits of exposure to an agent, involving the complex process of determining the significance of the identified hazards and estimated risks to the system concerned or affected by the exposure, as well as the benefits bought about by the agent.
The process requires societal and political inputs, both in terms of the perceptual and legal frameworks within which decisions are taken and in terms of the criteria that lie behind the decisions taken. This chapter is concerned with matters that transcend scientific and technical knowledge.
Often, the last stage of risk assessment (risk characterisation) is inter-mingled with the first stage of risk management (risk evaluation). Where this is the case the combined process is considered in this chapter rather than Chapter 5.
In practice, once the risks have been evaluated, management is:
ensuring adequate control of the risk (emission and exposure control, and risk monitoring)
ensuring that the consequences of any residual risk that may remain when the risks are properly controlled can be dealt with (emergency planning).
