Towards a new perspective: balancing risk, safety and danger.

The management of risk has gradually emerged as a normal activity that is now a constituent part of many professions. The concept of risk has become so ubiquitous that we continually search for risk-based explanations of the world around us. Decisions and projects are often viewed through the lens of risk to determine progress, value and utility. But risk can have more than one face depending on the stance that we adopt. The article looks at the implications of adopting different positions regarding risk thereby opening a wider discussion about the links to danger and safety. In rethinking our position, we are able to appraise the different strategies that are available and reason about the need to adopt a more balanced position as an essential step towards developing a better informed perspective for managing risk and potential.