ABSTRACT
Risk homeostasis theory, or RHT, (Wilde, 1988) is a model of risk-taking which stresses the importance of motivational factors in interventions aimed at improving the level of operational risk. Fundamental to RHT is the suggestion that it is the individual’s target level of risk, rather than the intrinsic risk of environments, that is the unique determinant of accident loss. In essence, the target level of risk represents the level of risk which the individual perceives as acceptable. According to Wilde (1988) four factors, which are motivational in nature, determine the target level of risk: the costs of relatively cautious behaviours, the benefits of relatively cautious behaviours, the costs of relatively risky behaviours, and the benefits of relatively risky behaviours. The target level of risk, and necessarily accident loss, will change as a consequence of a change in the value of any one of these four motivating factors. Ultimately, homeostasis is achieved by three possible behavioural choices (Wilde, 1988). Hoyes (1992) labelled these behavioural
pathways to homeostasis as: (i) behavioural adjustments within the environment; (ii) mode migration; and (iii) avoidance.
