Risk informed decision-making and its ethical basis

When making decisions in the face of uncertainty, there are two main questions that need to be asked: 1) What are the future consequences and associated uncertainties of an action and, 2) what is the right decision or action to make? This paper evaluates the different risk management approaches for establishing good decisions using different ethical theories as a basis. These theories include the utilitarian ethics of Bentley and Mills, and the deontological ethics of Kant, Rawls and Habermas. The risk management approaches discussed in this article include cost-benefit analysis, minimum safety criterion, the ALARP principle and the precautionary principle.