Risks, Rights and Secrets: public access to information on industrial major hazards

In: Policy & politics, Band 17, Heft 3, S. 255-271

Abstract

Recent developments in public access to information on environmental risk concerns are discussed in relation to the regulation of major hazard industry. Confidentiality has traditionally been part and parcel of the 'consensual' approach to risk regulation in the UK. However, in response to a number of pressures, including the wider repercussions of accident events at Seveso and Bhopal, moves towards greater openness have been seen. This paper describes and analyses these significant changes in policy, identifies the practical and political basis for the public's right to know about industrial hazards, and assesses the limits to openness now in place.