Educational resources assume major importance in risk analysis. There are two distinct foci of
interest: regulators (i.e. risk assessors and managers, federal and local) and stakeholders
(the regulated community and those affected by the product(s)). In addition, LDCs must be provided
the opportunity to become familiar with procedure developed globally and build their capacity for
appropriate assessment and management of risks.
Since risk is defined as the combination of hazard and exposure, methods to obtain information
about and quantitative data for these two components are needed. Methods to combine the two (i.e. models)
are also needed. These methods are always undergoing improvement and new
procedures are being devised. Risk assessors and regulators require continual updating to be
able to understand and apply state of the art techniques. The stakeholders must be able to
understand and appreciate the methods and decisions. Thus, courses, seminars, workshops
and open literature articles are essential to successful conduct and application of risk ass.
In LDCs, training and capacity building must begin at the grass roots level, include all potential
stakeholders and a major public awareness component.
