The Society for Risk Analysis Council has voted to approve the following principles, making them official SRA principles.

Risk analysis applies methods of analysis to matters of risk. Its aim is to increase understanding of the substantive qualities, seriousness, likelihood, and conditions of a hazard or risk and of the options for managing it. Risk analysis is both a profession and an intellectual discipline. These principles are meant to guide both the practice and uses of risk analysis.

1. Risk analysis uses observations about what we know to make predictions about what we don't know. Risk analysis is a fundamentally science-based process that strives to reflect the realities of Nature in order to provide useful information for decisions about managing risks. Risk analysis seeks to inform, not to dictate, the complex and difficult choices among possible measures to mitigate risks. Risk analysis enriches fair and transparent deliberative decision-making processes in a democratic society.
2. Risk analysis seeks to integrate knowledge about the fundamental physical, biological, social, cultural, and economic processes that determine human, environmental, and technological responses to a diverse set of circumstances. Because decisions about risks are usually needed when knowledge is incomplete, risk analysts rely on informed judgment and on models reflecting plausible interpretations of the realities of Nature. We do this with a commitment to assess and disclose the basis of our judgments and the uncertainties in our knowledge.
3. Risk analysis relies on both basic and applied research, often integrating information, theories, and analytic tools from a variety of disciplines. As we apply information and tools from diverse disciplines, we seek to give due respect and acknowledgment to the intellectual contributions of those fields while using information standards and criteria appropriate to the policy choices that are at issue.
4. Risk analysts are committed to maintaining and building our professional community as we contribute to advances in our field. We review the work of our peers and help students develop their skills and values. Unless prohibited, we share the data underlying our published analyses in order to facilitate independent reassessment of our own conclusions.
5. The relationship of risk analysts to the sponsors of our efforts is subordinate to our commitment to fairly assess and discuss the risks that are the subjects of our analyses. Risk analysts openly acknowledge our sponsors and our sources of data and support.

RISK newsletter, Third Quarter 2001