A generic standard for the risk assessment process: discussion on a proposal made by the program committee of the ER-JRC workshop on 'Promotion of Technical Harmonization of Risk-Based Decision Making'

This paper reviews the background and nature of the 'generic standard for r isk-based decision making' (Generic Standard) put forward by the EC-JRC Wor kshop's Organizing Committee (Committee), as briefly described in the Prefa ce paper of this special issue. Based on this analysis, the authors agree w ith the Committee's presumption that adopting a Generic Standard as a struc tural guideline for focused risk assessment standards in each of the severa l listed technical areas is feasible, will promote 'harmonization', and wil l help achieve the several advantages of harmonization outlined in the Work shop Summary Evaluation (see this special issue). More specifically, the paper makes four main recommendations in regard to t he Generic Standard: 1 1. Utilize all four of the Generic Elements, their Sub-Elements and Terms e mployed in the OECD/Chemical Accident Risk Assessment Thesaurus (CARAT) hie rarchy, originally developed for major accidental releases from fixed facil ities, as the conceptual basis of the proposed Generic Standard. 2. Use none of the Categories and Descriptors of the CARAT hierarchy as par t 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 uniquene ss and operational meaning to the risk processes involved in these areas. 4. Include provision for the information gathering, retrieval and search fe atures 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. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.