Legal framework considerations in the development of risk acceptance criteria

This paper presents the view that the form and nature of “criteria for risk acceptability” are primarily political constructs determined by the legal and political frameworks of the jurisdiction where the risk is to be taken and the consequences of failure are absorbed. Accordingly, the paper presents the view of risk acceptance criteria as a complex matter of socio-economics and politics, informed by the engineering and natural sciences and then “made to work in practice” by the professions (doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc.).