Introduction

Risk analysis is usually defined either by its components and/or its processes. The Society for Risk Analysis offers the following definitions of “risk analysis”:

• A detailed examination including risk assessment, risk evaluation and risk management alternatives, performed to understand the nature of unwanted, negative consequences to human life, health, property or the environment;
• An analytical process to provide information regarding undesirable events;
• The process of quantification of the probabilities and expected consequences for identified risks.

   It can also be defined as an objective, systematic, standardized and defensible method of assessing the likelihood of negative consequences occurring due to a proposed action or activity and the likely magnitude of those consequences, or, simply put, it is “science-based decision making”.

   Risk analysis is now widely applied in many fields that touch our daily lives. These include decisions about risks due to chemical and physical stressors (natural disasters, climate change, contaminants in food and water, pollution, etc.), biological stressors (human, plant and animal pathogens; plant and animal pests; invasive species, invasive genetic material), social and economic stressors (unemployment, financial losses, public security), construction and engineering (building safety, fire safety, military applications) and business (project operations, insurance, litigation, credit, cost risk maintenance, etc.). Risk analysis is thus a pervasive but often unnoticed component of modern society that is used by governments, private sector and individuals in the political, scientific, business, financial, social sciences and other communities.