Risk management in practice

It has increasingly been recognised that EMF-risk management faces difficulties because the public's EMF-risk perception is different from that which traditional risk management is used to dealing with. The public is less concerned about the real or known, i.e. established, EMF-risks than about risks which can be called hypothetical risks. This article briefly describes real and hypothetical risks and the roles of four different societal groups, namely the authorities, general public, industry, and science in dealing with EMF-risks. It is concluded that the mix of classical risk management means which consists of developing regulations for limiting exposure, precautionary measures, and involving people in the siting of EMF emitting installations, adequately addresses the real EMF-risks. Furthermore, large research programmes are being carried out to investigate more closely ambiguous experimental and epidemiological results and their relevance to human health. However, successful mitigation of people's risk perception will only be possible by open and respectful two-way communication between the parties involved. In recent years traditional attitudes have changed and some promising steps have been taken in the right direction.