This volume describes the proceedin9s of a IATO Advanced Study Institute
on Technological Risk Assessment, held 1ay 20-31, 1981, at Erice,
Sicily. The approach taken at the Erice meetin0 was to explore the
multidisciplinary nature of risk assessment, rather than to focus on any
single aspect or approach to risk assessment. This approach provided an
overview of many different types of risk assessment \Iork, as well as
insilJht into how these different a proaches are combined to provide
esti ates of risk. Additionally, understanding of the perception and
public reaction to risk, and market and regulatory methods that lead to
risk man- agement were major topics of the meetin . All but two of the
papers in this volume were presented at that meeting by lecturers or
artici ants; the papers by Drs. Lave and Vesely were added by the
editors because they are excellent complements to the other ra ers. Also
included is a comprehensive bibliography on the policy-related risk
literature; this was developed by Covello and Abernathy of the U.S.
4ational Science Foundation program on Technology Assess ent and Risk
Analysis.