ABSTRACT
Research by American psychologist Paul Slovic and his colleagues has found that different sub-groups of the population have different attitudes to risk and how it should be managed. In particular, their research found that there is a sub-population of white males who have views about risk, and how it is managed, which are different from that of the rest of the population. This phenomenon has come to be known as the 'white male effect' (WME). There is a tendency for the profession of risk management, and presumably thereby those who engage in public safety, to be of a particular world view. Various explanations have been advanced to account for the situation in the United Kingdom where the public safety issue is most apparent. Some have proposed that the UK's problem with public health and safety originated in continental Europe and in particular European law, and that without that intrusion the situation would not have developed as it has.
