ABSTRACT
This chapter explores commonly used strategies to manage risks. The goal of risk management is to reduce risk. This can be done by either avoiding exposure altogether or instituting engineering and other controls to reduce dose to workers and the public. Risk management is a complex decision process involving policy alternatives and selecting the most appropriate regulatory action. The size of the risk and its distribution in the population are key management triggers. Risk-management practices to control small cancer risks hinge on the assumption that dose reduction has a public health benefit. Management triggers are governed by personal experiences and perceptions. Radiogenic risks are based on a substantial database of human exposures. The communication defines the precautionary principle as a risk-management tool, to be applied only after a scientific evaluation of the available risk data. Risk-management decision making must include consideration of the possibility that attempts to reduce one risk may increase the probability of others.
