Overreacting to risk?
24th October 2006, 10:54 am
Our national attitude to risk is becoming defensive and disproportionate; the way we try to manage risk is leading to regulatory overkill. That’s the line from the Better Regulation Commission, set up by the government, with their first report, ‘Whose Risk Is It Anyway?’,
Writing in Society Guardian, BRC chief executive Lynne Berry says that the call for “something to be done” (about a headline grabbing hazard) should be answered by saying: “Hang on, what’s the evidence? What’s the best way to respond? What are the trade-offs? What legislation or regulation already exists? Where should responsibility for managing this risk lie?”.
See her article at http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,,1924337,00.html, or get the report from http://www.brc.gov.uk/publications/risk_report.asp.