Risk management social factors

This is a risk management term. The acceptability of the risk depends on scientific data, social, economic, and political factors, and on the perceived benefits arising from exposure to an agent. 

Results from the risk assessment are used to inform risk management. The risk manager uses the risk information in conjunction with factors such as the social importance of the risk, the social acceptability of the risk, the economic impacts of risk reduction, engineering, and legislative mandates when deciding on and implementing risk management approaches. 

The approach to risk management for radionuclides, when they are regulated under AEA, incorporates a limit on acceptable dose (and therefore risk) and a requirement that doses be reduced below the limit as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA), economic and social factors being taken into account this approach conforms to NCRP s recommendations on radiation protection. In this approach, risks to individuals are divided into three categories of significance, which are commonly termed unacceptable, acceptable, and negligible. ... 

In order to make justified risk management decisions, the first step is to classify the risks. This is often not an easy task. There is a balance between acceptability of a risk (both socially and regulatory based) and the chance that it occurs. In the case of allergen cross-contamination, this latter aspect is a crucial factor as risk management often focuses on reduction of the chance rather than avoidance. 

Ultimately, the credibility—for scientists, stakeholders and society in general—of the data and assessments on which critical risk management decisions are based owes much to the underlying tenets of data quality discussed in this document. Credibility is a basic element of risk communication and social trust and, in turn, is a determining factor in risk acceptance and risk management. 

Risk perception is an important ingredient of risk management. Even if actual risks are relatively low, people may perceive something as a serious threat and risk managers may decide to take action in order to reassure people. Risk perception thus is a social and political reality, which must be accounted for in the management process. It is therefore important to know how people perceive mixture risks and which factors influence mixture risk perception. 

Risk assessment evaluates risk in terms of hazard and exposure, but reference to risk levels must account for different perceptions of risk as well as scientific uncertainties in risk assessment. In short, this research project considers the importance of social and institutional processes in influencing risk perceptions and risk acceptability. This book therefore takes a constrained relativist approach by incorporating risk perceptions in the research framework. An unconstrained relativist perspective would imply that no scientific study is reliable or robust. By contrast, a constrained relativist approach can provide a useful basis for examining the different social and cultural factors involved in regulatory risk management. 

Social and cultural factors shaping risk tolerability and influencing the implementation of risk management measures. 

A new topic for discussion is risk assessment and risk management. This subject covers the origin, transport, fate and efforts of chemical pollutants in the environment and the risk factors involve versus the social, political and economic realities. 

Finally, a report is made to the risk manager detailing the important aspects of the risk assessment. Of crucial importance are the range of impacts, uncertainties in the data and the probabilities, and the stressor-response function. These factors are then taken into consideration with social, economic, and political realities in the management of risks. An approach to risk assessment as outlined above, however, does not include a risk/benefit type of analysis. Such considerations are within the purview of the risk manager. 

Sustainable development and the multidisciplinary use of the underground are also debated within the electives related to tunnelling and geo-risk management. The speeifieity of these courses is to help to raise awareness among students of any possible ethical, social, environmental, aesthetic, economic and legal implications of their work, to which they will act appropriately. The importance of the human factor and a clear communication line between all parties involved in a construction project is stressed. Site visits also provide the opportunity to introduce non technical issues, to students not willing to follow a full course on the topic. 

As written in the Definitions, the term socio-technical system pertains to the interrelatedness of the social and technical aspects of an organization. The term is commonly used in sociology, psychology, and human factors engineering. Quite probably, safety professionals will see a more frequent use of the term in their literature. It implies taking a holistic approach to operational risk management—emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts. 

When what is acceptable to the board of directors and to senior management concerning safety in operations is less than adequate with respect to attaining and maintaining acceptable risk levels, causal factors for incidents may derive from the organization s culture impacting on both the social and technical aspects of operations. 

A few definitions are needed to understand risk assessment. Risk is the likelihood that a hazard will occur in a given set of circumstances. Hazard refers to the capability of a substance to cause an adverse effect. Furthermore, risk assessment is the practice of identifying hazards, exposures, and risks, and risk management is the regulatory action based on scientific, social, and economic factors. 

Risks can be managed in many ways. They can be eliminated, transferred, retained or reduced. Risk reduction activities reduce the risk to an acceptable level, derived after taking into account a selection of factors such as government policy, industry norms, and economic, social and cultural factors. 

The assessment of risk of the potential incidence or escalation of conflict is called integrated because of the broad scale of factors that are considered (political, economic, social, demographic and environmental. The integrated risk assessment manages the complexity in the relationship between the consequences of stress and inhibiting or facilitating factors in order to determine which factor has the most potential impact on the incidence or escalation of conflict. 

---