Acceptable risk criteria

This article reviews work relevant to the identification and use of acceptable risk criteria for risk-based decision-making in engineering, particularly in relation to engineering safety standards. The article includes a brief outline of some relevant work in the fields of psychology, sociology and statistical decision theory, and it traces the development of quantitative risk acceptance criteria for engineering risk management and regulation. Work on quantitative methods to evaluate the acceptability of engineering risks is briefly reviewed, and limitations of the quantitative methods are noted. The use of quantitative risk acceptance criteria in engineering regulations and in engineering practice is discussed with particular reference to applications in the field of structural engineering. Also, the main risk acceptance issues that are currently attracting interest in the field of structural engineering are noted.