Risk assessment and environmental litigation
by Rosalind Malcolm, Leslie Blake
Interdisciplinary Environmental Review (IER), Vol. 2, No. 2, 2000

Abstract: It is said that today we live in a risk society; that we are more conscious of the value of life and of the various hazards which we may encounter. Risk has become legitimised. It as a matter of public concern and legislation is now formulated (both at the European level and within the U.K.) making risk assessment a formal requirement in many areas of environmental law. The recent food safety concerns (BSE, for example, not to mention the issue of genetically modified food) have highlighted the importance of risk assessment as a technique in the enforcement of the law. The regulation of risk assessment is now appearing in other areas of environmental law, such as the regulation of contaminated land, where the risks to be assessed are not only risks to human beings but also risks to the environment in the broadest sense. Risk assessment moves from a management technique to an enforceable legal obligation. The enforcement of this obligation requires a knowledge of the range of risks and the techniques for their assessment. It therefore involves other expert disciplines, all within a legal context. In many environmental offences, a defence may be available that the ''best practicable means'' were used or that ''all due diligence'' was exercised. This paper looks at the way in which risk assessment is becoming regulated and is used in litigation both by enforcement agencies and by the defence.

Online publication date: Mon, 13-May-2013

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