ABSTRACT
There is no widely agreed definition of the concept of risk. If we study the literature we find a number of different ways of understanding the risk concept. Some definitions are based on probability, chance or expected values, some on undesirable events or danger, and others on uncertainties. Some consider risk as subjective and epistemic, dependent on the available knowledge, whereas others grant risk an ontological status independent of the assessors. Section 2.2 of this chapter reviews the definition and meaning of the concept of risk in a professional context. The review includes a historical and developmental trend perspective, also covering recent years. It is questioned whether, and to what extent, it is possible to identify some underlying patterns in the way risk has been and is being understood today. First, in Section 2.1 we provide some remarks on the origin of the word ‘risk’ and how this concept is used in everyday language. Judgements about the match between the formal definitions and the phrases presented in Section 2.1 are provided to see the extent to which the formal definitions are in line with the typical daily risk language. Based on the review in Section 2.2, a recommended framework for understanding risk is presented in Section 2.3, where concepts such as hazard, risk source and vulnerability are also defined. Finally, Section 2.4 shows how this framework applies to the examples introduced in Chapter 1.
