The dignity of risk

The paper provides a preliminary attempt to integrate the research traditions in social and natural hazards. Attention is given to institutional and technological hazards and the mechanisms for risk management and -prevention of catastrophe. The concepts of competency and dangerousness are integrated into the discussion of risk management, with emphasis given to the insights provided by the clinical and legal literature on the mentally handicapped. The method of fault-tree and event-tree analysis, as used by nuclear engineers, is suggested as a promising approach to the analysis of catastrophe prevention arising from social hazards.