(this thread is also posted on ATHA's groupe in LinkedIn. Join!!)

Sitting reading about staff care and security management, I came across a couple of articles (by Oliver Behn, Madeleine Kingston and Christine Williamson) discussing acceptable risk.

I recognize quite well the arguments and examples where aid agencies have to balance the humanitarian programs with the safety of and risks to the field workers. All the same, acceptable risk is quite dynamic... perhaps too much so that sometimes acceptance of risk is based partly on the assertion of senior management rather than documented arguments etc. etc.

In essence I think mainstream security management argues that one should focus on the process, and to be consistent and accurate. As I presume that acceptable risk is different for all of us as individuals, this approach address the need for individuals to feel included and perhaps more secure .. but as Ms. Williamson asks in her article “[will] the term 'acceptable risk'... carry weight in a court of law”?

I still find that working with acceptable risk is a bit elusive, that I am missing something. So in the quest to learn more, I am asking: What are your practical experiences in assessing acceptable risk, once in the field? Challenges, pitfalls, opportunities, good practice... or a completely different understanding of acceptable risk?