There appears to be general agreement that policymakers need more information to inform risk management decisions. Views diverge, however, regarding the type of information needed and whether it is best provided by risk analysis. The debate might benefit, therefore, from explicit consideration of what information risk analysis provides. Key Factors Determining the Quality of Information Provided. Under ideal conditions, a risk analysis might gather, organize, and summarize all of the important information relevant to hazard management.
Risk analysts study hazards using a variety of procedures adapted from other fields of study.
Sanitary and industrial engineering, psychology, economics, sociology, statistics, and operations research, for example, have provided models and procedures used by risk analysts. The less directly relevant and extensive the past experience, the poorer the quality of data and the subsequent analysis. A second consideration is that risk analysis is a tool for evaluating what is known about things that cannot be known with certainty - that is, it is only used to describe the effects of hazards that are unpredictable due either to their randomness or to lack of data or scientific understanding of the principles that govern their occurrence. Its methods were developed to allow agencies to implement legislation despite incomplete data and scientific understanding. Risk analysis always produces an estimate, never an exact prediction, and estimates vary in quality.