Source avec lien : Safety Science, 165, 2023-09-01. 10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106211
Le principe de précaution est fortement débattu en tant que politique de gestion des risques et des préoccupations en matière de sécurité. On prétend généralement que ce principe est paralysant, non scientifique et qu’il favorise une culture de la peur irrationnelle. La littérature sur les risques et la sécurité contient de nombreux travaux qui soutiennent ces affirmations, mais aussi des arguments en faveur du principe. Le présent document vise à contribuer à cette discussion en examinant le principe à la lumière de ce que l’on appelle ici la science contemporaine du risque et de la sécurité.
The precautionary principle is strongly debated as a policy for handling risk and safety concerns. It is commonly claimed that the principle is paralyzing, unscientific and promotes a culture of irrational fear. The risk and safety literature contains considerable work providing support for such claims but also argumentation backing the principle. The present paper aims at contributing to this discussion by investigating the principle in view of what is here referred to as contemporary risk and safety science. Common beliefs about the principle are revisited. New insights are obtained by clarifying the risk and safety fundamentals necessary to understand the principle’s motivation, applicability and limitations. The paper concludes that the precautionary principle is only relevant when the uncertainties and risks are considerable and scientific. Confusion arises, as the principle is mixed with the basic idea of risk management to give weight to uncertainties, in order to prudently handle risk. Properly understood and implemented, the precautionary principle can be aligned with decision analysis and other scientific methods.