Taking Account of Societal Concerns About Risk: Framing the Problem

Risk is subjective. It is a word that refers to a future that exists only in the imagination. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as Britain's pre-eminent risk manager, has the challenging task of taking into account societal concerns about risk. The task is challenging, and often thankless, because society and its concerns are heterogeneous-" society " consists of diverse groups of stakeholders or social solidarities, and their concerns are commonly in conflict with each other. In this report we • = characterise risk management as a balancing act involving uncertain rewards and costs, • = describe the different groups with which the HSE must contend in performing its balancing act, • = note the significance of the different types of risk about which they are concerned, and • = conclude that attempts to manage risk that a) ignore the rewards of risk taking, and/or b) exclude significant stakeholders, and/or c) fail to appreciate the type of risk it is sought to manage, are unlikely to succeed. We have, we hope, brought a modicum of order to a large amount of chaos. This report and the work it describes were funded by the HSE. Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. ii CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iv 1. THREE FRAMING DEVICES 1 1.1. Three types of risk 1 1.2. The balancing act 6 1.2.1. The risk thermostat 6 1.2.2. The balancing act and directly perceived risks 9 1.2.3. The balancing act and risks perceived through science 10 1.2.4. The balancing act and virtual risk 10 1.3. A typology of perceptual filters 12 2. ROBUST RISK MANAGEMENT 15 2.1. The insightful hierarchist 15 2.2. Incorporating societal concerns into risk management 16 2.2.