Complex and risky technologies--technologies such as new drugs for the treatment of AIDS that promise great benefits to our society but carry significant risks--pose many problems for political leaders and the policy makers responsible for overseeing them. Public agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration are told by political superiors not to inhibit important technological advances and may even be charged with promoting such development but must also make sure that no major accidents occur under their watch. Given the large costs associated with catastrophic accidents, the general public and elected officials often demand reliable or failure-free management of these technologies and have little tolerance for the error. Research in this area has lead to a schism between those who argue that it is possible to have reliable management techniques and safely manage complex technologies and others who contend that such control is difficult at best. In this book C. F. Larry Heimann advances an important solution to this problem by developing a general theory of organizational reliability and agency decision making. The book looks at both external and internal influences on reliability in agency decision making. It then tests theoretical propositions developed in a comparative case study of two agencies involved with the handling of risky technologies: NASA and the manned space flight program and the FDA's handling of pharmaceuticals--particularly new AIDS therapies. Drawing on concepts from engineering, organizational theory, political science, and decision theory, this book will be of interest to those interested in science and technology policy, bureaucratic management and reform, as well as those interested in health and space policy. C. F. Larry Heimann is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University.

When security expert Jason Templeton's team is ambushed while protecting a weapons manufacturer vital to U.S. interests, he risks his life to save the man's daughter...and loses. Unbeknownst to Jason, his mentor had been funding experimental medical procedures after losing his young wife. Using the untested drugs, Jason is brought back to life, stronger and faster than before, but also vulnerable in new ways. He's determined to find the traitor in their midst, who is after the miracle drug. That means protecting the brilliant scientist Lark Madrassa. Their attraction and compatibility are undeniable, but Jason tries to deny his growing feelings for her, thinking he is too damaged. When Lark's father is kidnapped they have to rely on each other in a dangerous plot to uncover the double agent. Before, Jason always accepted the risks—but what about when the life of the woman he loves is on the line? 95,000 words

A framework for making decisions about risks, with recommendations for research, public policy, and practice.

This book is the first major work that addresses a core question in biomedical research: the question of acceptable risk. The acceptable level of risks is regulated by the requirement of proportionality in biomedical research law, which state that the risk and burden to the participant must be in proportion to potential benefits to the participant, society or science. This investigation addresses research on healthy volunteers, children, vulnerable subjects, and includes placebo controlled clinical trials. It represents a major contribution towards clarifying the most central, but also the most controversial and complex issue in biomedical research law and bioethics. The EU Clinical Trial Directive, the Council of Europe’s Oviedo Convention (and its Additional Protocol), and national regulation in member states are covered. It is a relevant work for lawyers and ethicists, and the practical approach makes a valuable tool for researchers and members of research ethics committees supervising biomedical research.

Organizations and modern technology give us much of what we value, but they have also given us Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Bhopal. The question at the heart of this paradox is "What is acceptable risk?" Based on his examination of the 1981 contamination of an office building in Binghamton, New York, Lee Clarke's compelling study argues that organizational processes are the key to understanding how some risks rather than others are defined as acceptable. He finds a pattern of decision-making based on relationships among organizations rather than the authority of individuals or single agencies.

Prepared by the Council on Disaster Reduction and the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering of ASCE. This TCLEE Monograph provides engineers and decision makers with tools to help them better understand acceptable risk processes and then develop risk reduction strategies and implement mitigation actions to reduce lifeline losses from future earthquakes. The disruption of lifelines from natural hazards has a direct impact on the world's regional economies and the health of their citizens. Therefore, it is important to understand what natural hazards are, how they can affect infrastructure lifelines, and what can be done to minimize their impact. These three elements, in turn, influence decisions that involve acceptable risk processes. The topic of "acceptable risk" provides one way of bringing integrated systems risk evaluations for disaster explicitly into a decision-making context. Topics include technical issues; risk criteria issues; and communication, administration, and regulation issues.

This relevant and scholarly text masterfully integrates health risk assessment information and its importance to IH and environmental scientists. Topics include science and judgment, risk assessment, risk management, and the future of industrial hygiene.

Get inside Japan's invisible behemoth to see the future of global business Good Risks is a fascinating insight into ORIX, a global giant whose business empire straddles the world, but which has managed to remain out of the media spotlight for half a century. Award winning author David Russell explains how this Japanese company has transcended its national identity to become a global player, and what that means for everyone else. In a series of one-on-one interviews with senior executives at ORIX companies around the world, readers gain a firsthand glimpse of the inner workings of this "invisible" corporate group that controls hundreds of billions of dollars. Interviews with the company President and Chairman in Tokyo provide rare insight into the thought leaders at the highest levels, and a contribution by the Chairman himself discusses the hard realities of globalization and the keys to success in the coming decade. The key concept that is lost in the Japan vs. China vs. US vs. EU battle is that the business landscape has changed drastically, making national boundaries anachronistic. Companies such as IBM, Disney, Apple, and Microsoft long ago stopped being "American" firms; they are global competitors that take advantage of their deep knowledge of the US markets, but have no special allegiance to the United States. This book argues that this is the future of all large-scale business, as already exemplified by ORIX. Learn how one executive steered ORIX's meteoric rise from an unknown start-up to an unseen global giant Explore the coming realities of the global business scene Discover why HQ location will be little more than historical accident See how ORIX impacts the Chinese, Indian, and American firms that follow its lead The business scene unfolding today is not "international" or "multinational", but an increasingly unified, global battleground. The rise of ORIX charts the future of business, and Good Risks provides the details and insights business leaders need to anticipate tomorrow's changes.

This phrase can mean a variety of things.

Over the last two decades, there has been an increase in the number of natural hazards which have culminated in catastrophic consequences, severely impacting on people and livelihoods. In response to this escalation, the Swiss Natural Hazards Competence Centre (CENAT) organized a workshop entitled "RISK21" at the Centro Stefano Franscini, Mon