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Description of  Uncertain Safety: Allocating Responsibilities for Safety (Amsterdam University Press - Wrr Verkenningen)

Floods and fires, food safety, hazardous materials, infectious diseases, and many other threats to public health and the environment call for ongoing public alertness. However, the ways in which these safety risks are currently assessed and managed fall short in addressing the uncertainties of future threats. In this vital report, the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy provides an exhaustive overview of the political, economic, and ethical dimensions of various risks and the safety policies aimed at reducing them. Governments, non-governmental organizations, businessmen and experts regularly voice concerns about safety and security issues. Often these concerns pertain to crime and terrorist threats. However, safety issues need attention as well. Although citizens of todays Western industrialized countries on average live longer and in better health than previous generations and the inhabitants of most other countries, flood prevention, food safety, the transport of hazardous substances, infectious diseases, the risk of new technologies and many other threats to public health and the environment call for ongoing alertness.