Environmental Regulation : Developments in How to Set Requirements and Verify Compliance

Safety regulation requirements have generally been set most stringently on means of protection (such as equipment design) and least on ends (public interest), with intermediate levels (such as accident risk and pollutant release) in-between. The reverse promises to be more effective. “Probabilistic Risk Assessment,” keyed to frequencies (e.g. equipment failure) and well-documented sources of risk (such as experiments) has been used to check compliance. It is being replaced by Comprehensive Safety Assessment, which is keyed to judgmental probabilities and any indication of risk, however intangible (such as managerial experience)