Risk, risks

QRA - Quantitative Risk Assessment Qualitative risk - Risk expressed without numbers. 

The last three decades have seen the development of a new science to help us better understand the risk of events about which there is often very little information. The reason there is interest in such a science is that there are a great many societal benefits from activities that involve risk risk that if properly managed through better understanding can greatly benefit the quality of all life on the planet earth, both plant and animal. That science is quantitative risk assessment, also known by such names as probabilistic risk assessment and probabilistic salety assessment, the latter being the preferred name for this text. Probabilistic safety assessment divides the risk question into three questions "What can go wrong " "How likely is it " and "What are the consequences "... 

Not observable Unknown to those exposed, effect delayed, new risk, risks unknown to science... 

Total E.xposure Cancer Risk = Risk (exposure pathwayi) +... 

Odds Ratio (OR)—A means of measuring the association between an exposure (such as toxic substances and a disease or condition) which represents the best estimate of relative risk (risk as a ratio of the incidence among subjects exposed to a particular risk factor divided by the incidence among subjects who were not exposed to the risk factor). An odds ratio of greater than 1 is considered to indicate greater risk of disease in the exposed group compared to the unexposed. 

A note of caution is appropriate at this juncture as many confuse the inherent hazard of materials with risk. This will be covered in slightly greater detail later in this chapter, but it is important to distinguish between hazard and risk. Risk is defined as being a function of the inherent hazard of a material and the potential, or likelihood, for exposure ... 

And there always was a risk risk seemed as necessary to my desire as the man s intelligence or his body. A risk bred of some impediment professional or personal, to put it no more crudely than that. What I told myself I wanted from him—loved in him, I swore—was never his to give, at least not freely or publicly. Though I refused to see it like that until Izzy, uncharacteristically brutal, pointed it out. I was crying over the latest, and she had her arm around me. But what she said was I think you look for people where there s something in the way, Una. I think you need it to be like that. ... 

RISK RISK performs risk analysis using Monte Carlo simulation to conduct sensitivity and uncertainty analyses... 

The risk asses sment may include an evaluation of what the risks mean in practice to those effected. This will depend heavily on how the risk is perceived. Risk perception involves peoples beliefs, attitudes, judgements and feelings, as well as the wider social or cultural values that people adopt towards hazards and their benefits. The way in which people perceive risk is vital in the process of assessing and managing risk. Risk perception will be a major determinant in whether a risk is deemed to be acceptable and whether the risk management measures imposed are seen to resolve the problem. 

As noted earlier, risk perception reflects a consumer s interpretation of the likelihood they will be exposed to the illness or disease. Risk attitudes reflects a consumer s general predisposition to risk in a consistent way. Some people are risk averse whereas others are not. That is one reason why all people in the world do not skydive, ride motorcycles without helmets, or hang glide. It is important to emphasize that risk attitude and risk perception are two different concepts (Pennings and Wansink, 2005). Whereas risk attitude deals with a consumer s interpretation of the content of the risk and how much he or she dislikes the risk, risk perception deals with the consumer s interpretation of the likelihood of being exposed to the content of the risk. 

Risk may be perceived differently across societal groups, and how consumers cope with perceived risk will depend on their risk attitude. Before a person is able to respond to risk, risk must first be perceived (Trimpop, 1994). Stone et al. (1994) modeled the identification of risks as a cognitive process of identification, storage, and retrieval. The level of risk that a food-related behavior provides depends on the consumer s risk perception (Sparks et al., 1995). 

In contrast, the Food Additive Amendments of 1958 to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act presented a different type of law, a "zero-risk" law. Under the thrust of the zero-risk law, it said "if a food additive is a carcinogen, we cannot permit any exposure since we cannot live with any such risk." Risk is the evaluation of severity of toxicity or hazardous properties... 

Reactivity Risks Controls and Risk Risks and Management Decisions... 

Moreover, under current laws, there is little opportunity for examining the totality of exposure to a single substance from all media, which is necessary if we are to acquire a picture of its total risk, and identify those sources that are the greatest contributors to that total risk. Risk decisions for chemicals in specific media are sometimes taken in isolation from decisions about the same chemicals in other media, and this practice is encouraged because of the diverse requirements of our laws and the artificial barriers they create. 

Source Crouch and Wilson as cited by Slovic, P., 1986. Informing and educating the public about risk. Risk Analysis. 6, 403 15. 

Risk indices are single numbers or a tabulation of numbers that are correlated to the magnitude of the risk to people. Some risk indices are relative values with no specific units. The limitations on the use of indices are that they may not be an absolute criteria for accepting or rejecting the risk. Risk indices also do not communicate the same information as individual or societal risk measures. An example of risk indices is a risk ranking matrix. Table 6-4 (modified from CCPS, 1992) shows how severity and likelihood are combined to obtain risk indices. An example risk matrix is shown in Figure 6-3 (RRS, 2002). 

A review of those procedures, which were developed in companies to assess and deal with economic risks (risk management) reveals ways of applying them to the processes for dealing with social, health and ecological risks. 

Risk management is understood in a broad sense in this context i.e. risk prevention or risk avoidance, dealing with accepted risks (risk management in a narrower sense) or reduction of intolerable risks. 

Anderson EL. 1983a. Quantitative approaches in use to assess cancer risk. Risk Analysis 3 377-295... 

The possible conclusions of a risk assessment for existing substances are (i) there is need for further information and/or testing, (ii) there is at present no need for further information and/or testing and no need for risk reduction measures beyond those, which are being applied already, or (iii) there is a need for limiting the risks (risk reduction measures, which are already being applied shall be taken into account). 

Risk-specific doses are derived from the slope factor or unit risk to estimate the dose associated with a specific risk level, for example a one-in-a-million (10 ) increased lifetime risk. Risk below the POD is typically approximated by multiplying the slope factor by an estimate of exposure, i.e., Risk = Slope Factor X Exposure. For exposure levels above the POD, the dose-response model is used instead of this approximation. 

Risk management is the process of deciding what to do to reduce a known or suspected risk. Risk management balances the various community demands with the scientific information generated from the risk assessment. Public perception of risk is also considered. Table 19.2 characterizes some of the factors that influence perception of risk. An individual s perception of risk is sometimes very different from a risk... 

Wu, F. (2004). Explaining public resistance to genetically modified com an analysis of the distribution of benefits and risks. Risk Anal. 24(3) 715-729. 

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