Risk

Book excerpt: This report from a group of scientists, engineers and social scientists is published by the Royal Society to open up discussion on risk. It re-states the principles by which the risks to human health and life are measured and shows the changes over the last ten years. The object is to provide guides to decisions on priorities for action. Risks from transport, employment, sport, radiation, smoking, food and HIV are compared. Life expectancy in the UK has increased by seven years since 1952, and babies' deaths reduced from 28 per thousand to eight. For industry, techniques to predict are widely used along with those to improve quality. A new area of problems lies in software faults.