Abstract
There is confusion and controversy about the meaning of the term “risk”. Its common usage is descriptive, as in the phrase “the risks of rock climbing”. In a quantitative sense, it has sometimes been used to mean the probability of occurrence of an unwelcome event. For accidents, it has also been used to mean a combination of probability and consequences. This combination is intended to represent the expectation of harm arising from a specified event or situation. I prefer the term “detriment” for that combination. Risk can then be reserved for use in its common, descriptive sense and in well-established technical senses such as “excess relative risk”.
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© 1992 Plenum Press, New York
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Dunster, H.J. (1992). Risk Assessment. In: Stewart-Tull, D.E.S., Sussman, M. (eds) The Release of Genetically Modified Microorganisms—REGEM 2. Federation of European Microbiological Societies Symposium Series, vol 63. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0493-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0493-7_9
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