Schutzziele im Umgang mit Naturrisiken in der Schweiz

There is a wide consensus among experts, that absolute safety in risk management is neither technically feasible nor economically affordable. The question ’How safe is safe enough?’ plays a crucial role in risk management. To answer this question, risk management practitioners elaborated suggestions of protection objectives. Protection objectives express both the level of tolerable risk and the distribution of residual risk among society. Swiss legal order provides no accurate indications on protection objectives. In theory on environmental and risk law a ‘Three-Step-Concept’ and a ’Two-Rules-Approach‘ are of major importance. Rule #1 guarantees elementary safety needs of any individual, rule #2 foresees further reduction of collective risks according to proportionateness of mitigation measures. Protection objectives as an expression of the level and distribution of tolerable risks are a matter of justice. Social needs, the risk bearers own responsibility and the context of a risk situation as well as efficiency and social and environmental compatibility of risk mitigation measures may be addressed as important aspects of justice and also as guiding principles of protection objectives. Commonly suggested protection objectives are analyzed in the light of these aspects and a procedure to implement those aspects in regional risk management is suggested. Case studies and some reflections on organizational and procedural aspects on the definition of tolerable risks complete this research.