About the relevance of the concept of risk acceptability in the risk management process : a decisional approach in the French national context

Abstract : A rapid view to the evolution of the legal context at the national European and international level shows a need to introduce both more "visibility" and more "legibility" on the way the decisions in risk analysis and risk management are taken. This can be introduced by: i) giving an image of what the scientific and the experts agree to be the technical "state of the Art" in there respective discipline to reduce and control hazardous activities; (ii) improving the way the population and the other stakeholders are involved and participate to the risk management process. In France, the Toulouse disaster has revealed a real need to improve the way decisions are taken in the risk prevention processes. In this paper, we will show how the establish concept of "risks acceptability" can induce bias on the way risk analysis are performed in the context of the hazard induced by industrial activities. We will show that there is a need to distinguish the acceptability known as "technical" from the one known as "social". We will then propose a new enlightenment on the way risk analysis are performed in Safety Studies and then discuss about the issue of land-use planning in France using "Risk prevention plans" (TRPP) around SEVESO sites.