Improving Community Acceptance of Hazardous Waste Facilities Through Alternative Systems for Mitigating and Managing Risk

Abstract

A range of management strategies capable of shaping risk perceptions in the siting of hazardous waste facilities are examined. Siting of these facilities raises concerns among local residents about (a) predictions: do we know enough to forecast the likely effects of a hazardous waste disposal plant? (b) detection: if hazardous conditions develop, will we be able to detect them quickly? (c) prevention: can we design and manage systems for effectively reducing the potential risks? and (d) mitigation: if serious hazards are detected, do we know how to reverse the dangers and the negative impacts? Strategies for coping with differing perceptions of risk currently focus on information exchange about physical properties, improved analytic estimates of potential risks, and changes in technological safety systems. The efficacy of these prediction and prevention strategies are compared with alternative detection and mitigation strategies. In addition, improvements in technical safety are examined relative to innovations in social control as devices for coping with perceptions of risk.