ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what makes the concept of ‘tolerability of risk’ (ToR) work within the British regulatory framework for occupational health and safety. It is argued that for ToR to be successfully operationalized two fundamental components are necessary. The first prerequisite is an acceptance and a legitimization by stakeholders of the need to balance risks being regulated or created against the costs involved in controlling them. The second prerequisite is a form of institutional decision-making that allows that ‘balancing of risks and costs’ but ensures that decisions are reached. In this chapter I will argue that ToR successfully operates in occupational health and safety in Britain owing to the common law origins of the criminal duties in health and safety law and the corporatist model of social partnership institutionalized in the Health and Safety Commission.
