Citation

Rosenthal I, Ignatowski AJ, Kirchsteiger C. Safety Sci. 2002; 40(1-4): 75-103.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper reviews the background and nature of the 'generic standard for risk-based decision making' (Generic Standard) put forward by the EC-JRC Workshop's Organizing Committee (Committee), as briefly described in the Preface paper of this special issue. Based on this analysis, the authors agree with the Committee's presumption that adopting a Generic Standard as a structural guideline for focused risk assessment standards in each of the several listed technical areas is feasible, will promote 'harmonization', and will help achieve the several advantages of harmonization outlined in the Workshop Summary Evaluation (see this special issue).More specifically, the paper makes four main recommendations in regard to the Generic Standard:1. Utilize all four of the Generic Elements, their Sub-Elements and Terms employed in the OECD/Chemical Accident Risk Assessment Thesaurus (CARAT) hierarchy, originally developed for major accidental releases from fixed facilities, as the conceptual basis of the proposed Generic Standard.2. Use none of the Categories and Descriptors of the CARAT hierarchy as part of the Generic Standard except possibly as examples for the extension of the Generic Standard into specific technical cases.3. Require that Categories and Descriptors be included in the hierarchy of the standards for specific technical areas, as these features give uniqueness and operational meaning to the risk processes involved in these areas.4. Include provision for the information gathering, retrieval and search features contained in CARAT (References, Tools and Criteria). These features will add value to the goals of the workshop and will promote the wider use of the specialized technical area standards.