Abstract
In recent years government support for the study of technological hazards and risks has substantially increased. Much of the research effort has been carried out through grants and contracts to statisticians, physicists, biologists, chemists, engineers, decision analysts, economists, and psychologists, although researchers from other disciplines have also made major contributions. Largely due to these efforts, there is now a significant body of knowledge on methods for identifying estimating, and evaluating risks; on institutional, political, and legal constraints associated with the risk management process; and on public perceptions of risk. It would be no exaggeration to say that as a result of these efforts a new and lively field of research has been created almost overnight.
Note: The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent the views of the National Science Foundation, but are exclusively those of the author.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Bibliography
Arrow, K. J., 1974, “Essays in the Theory of Risk Bearing,” Elsevier, New York.
Baram, Michael S., 1980, Cost-benefit analysis: an inadequate basis for health, safety, and environmental regulatory decision-making, Ecology Law Quarterly, 8:473–531.
Baram, Michael S., 1979, “Regulation of Health, Safety and Environmental Quality and the Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis,” Final Report to the Administrative Conference of the United States, Washington, D.C.: Administrative Conference of the U.S.
Bazelon, D. L., 1979, Risk and responsibility, Science, 205:277–280.
Berkowitz, Monroe, May 1979, Occupational safety and health, Ann. Am. Acad. of Polit. Soc. Sci., 443:41–53.
Bick, Thomas, and Kasperson, Roger E., Oct. 1978, Pitfalls of hazard management: the CPSC experiment, Environment, 20:30–42.
Black, S. C., and Niehaus, F., 1980, How safe is “too” safe? Int. Atomic Energy Agency Bull., 22:40–50.
Bogen, Kenneth T., 1980, Public policy and technological risk, IDEA J. Law Tech., 21(1):37–74.
Burton, I., Kates, R., and White, G., 1978, “The Environment as Hazard,” Allen & Unwin, London.
Cairns, John Jr., Feb. 1980, Estimating hazard, BioSci., 30:101–107.
Carter, Luther J., May 30, 1979, Dispute over cancer risk quantification, Science, 203:1324–1325.
Carter, Luther J., May 25, 1979, How to assess cancer risks, Science, 204:811–816.
Chalfant, James C., et al., 1979, Recombinant DNA: a case study in regulation of scientific research, Ecology Law Quarterly, 8(55):55–129.
Chicken, John C., 1975, “Hazard Control Policy in Britain,” Permagon Press, New York.
Conley, Bryan C., Mar. 1976, The value of human life in the demand for safety. Am. Econ. Rev., 66:45–55.
Covello, Vincent, and Menkes, Joshua, 1981, Issues in risk analysis in: “Risk in the Technological Society,” C. Hohenemser and J. Kasperson, eds., Westview Press, Boulder, Colo.
Eichholz, Geoffrey G., Sept.–Oct. 1976, Cost-benefit assessment for nuclear plants, Nuclear Safety, 17:525–539.
Epstein, Samuel S., 1979, “The Politics of Cancer,” Anchor Books, Garden City, N. Y.
Fischhoff, Baruch, 1977, Cost-benefit analysis and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Policy Sci., 8:177–202.
Fischhoff, Baruch, May 1979, Informed consent in societal risk-benefit decisions, Tech. Forecasting Social Change, 13:347–357.
Fischhoff, Baruch, et al., Sept. 1978, Handling hazards: can hazard management be improved? Environment, 20(7): 16–19, 32-37.
Fox, Renee C., Winter 1980, The evolution of medical uncertainty, Milbank Mem. Fund Quarterly/Health & Society, 58:1–49.
Gould, L., and Walker, C. A., eds., “Too Hot to Handle: Public Policy Issues in Nuclear Waste Management,” Yale University Press, New Haven.
Greene, Mark R., May 1979, A review and evaluation of selected government programs to handle risk, Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc Sci., 443:129–144.
Hammond, E. Cuyler, and Selikoff, Irving J., eds., Oct. 26, 1979, Public control of environmental health hazards [45 related papers plus panel discussions], Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 329: 1–405.
Hapgood, Fred, Jan. 1979, Risk-benefit analysis: putting a price on life, Atlantic, 243:33–38.
Harriss, Robert C., and Hohenemser, Christoph, Nov. 1978, Mercury measuring and managing the risk, Environment, 20:25–36.
Herbert, John H., et al., Jul./Aug. 1979, A risk business: energy production and the Inhaber Report, Environment, 20:28–33.
Inhaber, Herbert, Feb. 1979, Risk with energy from conventional and nonconventional sources, Science, 203:718–723.
Jacobs, Phillips, 1979 Analyzing environmental hazards, Environ. Sci. Tech., 13:526–529.
Jones-Lee, M. W., 1976, “The Value of Life: An Economic Analysis,” Martin Robertson & Co., London.
Kasper, Raphael, Aug. 1977, Cost-benefit analysis in environmental decision-making, George Washington Law Rev., 45:1013–1024.
Kates, Robert W., ed., 1977, “Managing Technological Hazard: Research Needs and Opportunities,” University of Colorado Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Boulder, Colo.
Kletz, Trevor A., May 12, 1977, The risk equations: what risks should we run? New Scientist, 74:320–322.
Kunreuther, Howard, May 1979, The changing societal consequences of risks from natural hazards, Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci., 443:104–116.
Kunreuther, Howard, 1978, “Disaster Insurance Protection: Public Policy Lessons,” Wiley, New York.
Lawless, E. W., 1977, “Technology and Social Shock,” Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick.
Levine, Saul, Sept.–Oct. 1978, The role of risk assessment in the nuclear regulatory process, Nucl. Safety, 19:556–564.
Linnerooth, Joanne, Aug. 1976, Methods for evaluating mortality risk, Futures, 8:293–304.
Lovins, Anthony B., 1977, Cost-risk-benefit assessments in energy policy, George Washington Law Rev., 45:911–943.
Lowrance, William W., 1976, “Of Acceptable Risk,” William Kaufman, Los Altos, Cal.
Martin, James G., Jan. 1979, The Delaney clause and zero risk tolerance, Food, Drug, Cosmetic Law J., 311:43–49.
McGinty, Lawrence, and Atherley, Gordon, 12 May 1977, Acceptability versus democracy, New Scientist, 74:323–325.
Mendeloff, John, 1979, “Regulating Safety: An Economic and Political Analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Policy,” MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Mishan, Edward J., 1976, “Cost-Benefit Analysis,” Praeger, New York.
MITRE Corporation, The Metrek Division, Sept. 1979, “Risk Assessment and Governmental Decision-making; Symposium/Workshop on Nuclear and Nonnuclear Energy Systems, Proceedings,” The MITRE Corp., Metrek Division, McLean, Va.
National Academy of Sciences, 1975, Committee on Principles of Decision-making for Regulating Chemicals in the Environment, “Decision-making for Regulating Chemicals in the Environment,” National Academic of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
National Academy of Engineering, 1972, Committee on Public Engineering Policy. Perspectives on benefit-risk decision-making, “Report of a Colloquium Conducted by the Committee on Public Engineering Policy, National Academy of Engineering, Apr. 16–17, 1971,” National Academy of Engineering, Washington, D.C.
National Academy of Sciences, 1977, National Research Council, Advisory Committee on Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation, “Considerations of Health Benefit Cost Analysis for Activities Involving Ionizing Radiation and Alternatives,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. (EPA 520/4-77-003).
National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Mar. 1980, “Perceptions of Risk; Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Meeting, Mar 14–15, 1979, Washington, D.C,” pp. 1-168.
Nelkin, D., ed., 1979, “Controversy: Politics of Technical Decisions,” Sage, Beverly Hills.
Okrent, D., 1980, Comment on societal risk, Science, 208:372–375.
Okrent, David., ed., 1975, “Risk-Benefit Methodology and Applications: Some Papers Presented at the Engineering Foundation Workshop, Sept. 22–26, 1975, Asilomar, California,” National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA., (NSF-RA-X-75-029).
Otway, Harry J., and Pahner, Phillip D., Apr. 1976, Risk assessment, Futures, 8:122–134.
Otway, Harry J., et al., Apr. 1978, Nuclear power: the question of public acceptance, Futures, 10:109–118.
Page, Talbot, 1978, A generic view of toxic chemicals and similar risks, Ecology Law Quarterly, 7:207–245.
Rhoads, Steven E., Spring 1978, How much should we spend to save a life? Public Interest, 51:74–92.
Richmond, Chester R., 1980, “The Science of Risk Assessment: A Summary of a Seminar Presented on Aug. 9, 1979, Oak Ridge, Tenn.,” Oak Ridge National Laboratory, (ORNL technical seminar series, ORNL/PPA-80/2).
Ritch, John B., Jr., Aug. 1979, Protecting public health from toxic chemicals, Environ. Sci. Tech., 13:922–926.
Rowe, William D., Aug. 1977, Governmental regulation of societal risks, George Washington Law Rev., 45:944–968.
Rowe, William D., 1977, “An Anatomy of Risk,” Wiley, New York.
Sage, A., and White, E., Aug. 1980, Methodologies for risk and hazard assessment: a survey and status report, IEEE Trans. Syst., Man, Cybern., 10(8):425–447.
Samuels, Sheldon W., Oct. 1979, Role of scientific data in health decisions, Environ. Health Perspectives, 32:301–307.
Schweig, Barry B., May 1979, Products liability problem, Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci., 443:94–103.
Schwing, Richard C., and Albers, Walter A., Jr., eds., 1980, “Societal Risk Assessment: How Safe is Safe Enough?” Proceedings of an international symposium held Oct. 8–9, 1979, at the General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, MI., Plenum Press, N.Y.
Singer, Max, Spring, 1978, How to reduce risks rationally, Public Interest, 51:93–112.
Sjoberg, Lennart, 1979, Strength of belief and risk, Policy Sci., 11:39–57.
Slovic, Paul, 1978, The psychology of protective behavior, J. Safety Res., 10:58–68.
Slovic, Paul, et al., 1979, Rating the risks, Environment, 21:14–39.
Solomon, K. A., Aug. 1980, “Issues and Problems in Inferring a Level of Acceptable Risk,” prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy, The Rand Corporation, Washington, D.C.
Solomon, Kenneth A., and Abraham, Stanley C., Mar. 1980, The index of harm: a useful measure for comparing occupational risk across industries, Health Phys., 38:375–391.
Starr, Chauncey, 1969, Social benefit vs. technological risk, Science, 165:1232–1238.
Starr, Chauncey, and Whipple, Chris, 1980, Risks of risk decisions, Science, 208:1114–1119.
U.S. Congress, 1980, House of Representatives, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, “Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis by Regulatory Agencies,” Joint hearings, 96th Congress, 1st session, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., Washington, D.C.
U.S. Congress, 1980, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology; Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space; and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Congress/Science Forum, “Risk/benefit analysis in the legislative process,” Joint hearings, 96th Congress, 1st session, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., Washington, D.C.
Vaupel, James W., Autumn 1976, Early death: an American tragedy, Law Contemp. Problems, 40:74–116.
Vaupel, James W., and Graham, John D., Winter 1980, Egg in your bier? Public Interest, 58:3–17.
Wildavsky, Aaron, Jan./Feb. 1979, No risk is the highest risk of all, Am. Scientist, 67:32–37.
Wildavsky, Aaron, Summer 1980, Richer is safer, Public Interest, 60:23–30.
Wilson, R., Feb. 1979, Analyzing the risks of daily life, Tech. Rev., pp. 45-55.
Zeckhauser, Richard, and Shepard, Donald, Autumn 1976, Where now for saving lives, Law Contemp. Problems, 40:5–45.
Zimmerman, Burke K., Feb. 1978, Risk-benefit analysis; the cop-out of government regulation, Trial, 14:43–47.
References
Covello, V., and Menkes, J., 1981, Issues in risk analysis, in: “Risk in the Technological Society,” C. Hohenemser and J. Kasperson, eds., Westview Press, Boulder, Colo.
Knorr, K., 1977, Policy-makers’ use of social science knowledge: Symbolic or instrumental? in: “Using Social Research in Public Policy Making,” C. Weiss, ed., Lexington Books, Lexington, Mass.
Larsen, J., March 1980, Knowledge utilization: What is it? Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilization, 1(3):421–442.
Lindblom, C. E., and Cohen, D. K., 1978, “Social Research in Social Problem Solving: The Issues,” Working paper No. 803, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, New Haven.
Lynn, Laurence E., Caplan, N., Morrison, A., and Stambaugh, R. J., 1975, “The Use of Social Science Knowledge in Policy Decisions at the National Level,” Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Weiss, C., 1977a, Research for policy’s sake: The enlightenment function of social research, Policy Analysis 3(4):531–46.
Weiss, C., ed., 1977b, “Using Social Research in Public Policy Making,” Lexington Books, Lexington, Mass.
Weiss, C., 1978, Improving the linkage between social research and public policy, in: “The Use of Social Science Knowledge in Policy Decisions at the National Level.
Laurence E. Lynn, N. Caplan, A. Morrison, and R. J. Stambaugh (1975), Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Wildavsky, A., 1979, No risk is the highest risk of all, American Scientist, Vol. 67 (Jan.–Feb. 1979) pp. 32-37.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1981 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Covello, V.T. (1981). Technological Hazards, Risk, and Society: A Perspective on Risk Analysis Research. In: Haimes, Y.Y. (eds) Risk/Benefit Analysis in Water Resources Planning and Management. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2168-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2168-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2170-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2168-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive