Mitigating employer liability for producers and users of engineered nano materials

This thesis presents a series of arguments, tools and techniques to help facilitate the efficient transfer of occupational risk from the community of producers and users of engineered nano materials (ENMs) to insurers, thereby helping secure the promise of an on-going technological evolution for which these materials are paramount. As an emerging technology, there is insufficient data and few guiding analogues or useful metaphors to inform a perspective on their risks for insurers and regulators. In a climate of uncertainty, their utility is threatened by the possibility of over regulation or excessive insurance costs. This work firstly establishes the potential long term economic gains from ENM applications and highlights how such gains could be undermined by over regulation or high insurance costs. Insurance is identified as the primary vehicle to not only facilitate risk transfer, but to also act as a surrogate regulator in the interim, thereby providing a well-tailored template for on-going developments in command and control regulation. A hazard inference system is described that can be used by insurers or regulators to quickly flag an ENM as potentially hazardous on the basis of its physicochemical properties. Available characterisation data for engineered nano materials can be incongruous and there remains a dearth of standardised information on these materials. A Bayesian regression framework is developed that can help insurers and regulators make best use of this characterization data as it stands and as it becomes more available. Finally, an insurance framework is specified that includes a protocol, specified as a mark-up language, for consistently communicating complex risk information from producers and users of engineered nano materials to insurers. This framework also deploys Bayesian methods to account for unpredictable and difficult to measure ENM exposure and hazard levels for the purpose of insurance pricing. The combined contributions of this work provides a clearer perspective for insurers regarding the nature of the occupational risks stemming from ENM production and use, and offers several methodologies that insurers could adopt to aid their risk management needs in this regard

Managing risk in nanotechnology: topics in governance, assurance and transfer

This book aims to address how nanotechnology risks are being addressed by scientists, particularly in the areas of human health and the environment and how these risks can be measured in financial terms for insurers and regulators. It provides a comprehensive overview of nanotechnology risk measurement and risk transfer methods, including a chapter outlining how Bayesian methods can be used. It also examines nanotechnology from a legal perspective, both current and potential future outcomes. The global market for nanotechnology products was valued at $22.9 billion in 2013 and increased to about$26 billion in 2014. This market is expected to reach about $64.2 billion by 2019, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8% from 2014 to 2019. Despite the increasing value of nanotechnologies and their widespread use, there is a significant gap between the enthusiasm of scientists and nanotechnology entrepreneurs working in the nanotechnology space and the insurance/regulatory sector. Scientists are scarcely aware that insurers/regulators have concerns about the potential for human and environmental risk and insurers/regulators are not in a position to access the potential risk. This book aims to bridge this gap by defining the current challenges in nanotechnology across disciplines and providing a number of risk management and assessment methodologies. Featuring contributions from authors in areas such as regulation, law, ethics, management, insurance and manufacturing, this volume provides an interdisciplinary perspective that is of value to students, academics, researchers, policy makers, practitioners and society in general

Empowering citizens in international governance of nanotechnologies

The international dialogue on responsible governance of nanotechnologies engages a wide range of actors with conflicting as well as common interests. It is also characterised by a lack of evidence-based data on uncertain risks of in particular engineered nanomaterials. The present paper aims at deepening understanding of the collective decision making context at international level using the grounded theory approach as proposed by Glaser and Strauss in "The Discovery of Grounded Theory\u27\u27 (1967). This starts by discussing relevant concepts from different fields including sociological and political studies of international relations as well as political philosophy and ethics. This analysis of current trends in international law making is taken as starting point for exploring the role that a software decision support tool could play in multi-stakeholder global governance of nanotechnologies. These theoretical ideas are then compared with the current design of the SUN Decision Support System (SUNDS) under development in the European project on Sustainable Nanotechnologies (SUN, www.sun-fp7.eu). Through constant comparison, the ideas are also compared with requirements of different stakeholders as expressed during a user workshop. This allows for highlighting discussion points for further consideration.PUBLISHEDpeer-reviewe

Sustainable nanotechnology decision support system: bridging risk management, sustainable innovation and risk governance

The significant uncertainties associated\ud with the (eco)toxicological risks of engineered nanomaterials\ud pose challenges to the development of nanoenabled\ud products toward greatest possible societal\ud benefit. This paper argues for the use of risk governance\ud approaches to manage nanotechnology risks and\ud sustainability, and considers the links between these\ud concepts. Further, seven risk assessment and management\ud criteria relevant to risk governance are defined:\ud (a) life cycle thinking, (b) triple bottom line, (c) inclusion\ud of stakeholders, (d) risk management, (e) benefit–\ud risk assessment, (f) consideration of uncertainty, and (g) adaptive response. These criteria are used to\ud compare five well-developed nanotechnology frameworks:\ud International Risk Governance Council framework,\ud Comprehensive Environmental Assessment,\ud Streaming Life Cycle Risk Assessment, Certifiable\ud Nanospecific Risk Management and Monitoring System\ud and LICARA NanoSCAN. A Sustainable Nanotechnology\ud Decision Support System (SUNDS) is\ud proposed to better address current nanotechnology risk\ud assessment and management needs, and makes.\ud Stakeholder needs were solicited for further SUNDS\ud enhancement through a stakeholder workshop that\ud included representatives from regulatory, industry and\ud insurance sectors. Workshop participants expressed\ud the need for the wider adoption of sustainability\ud assessment methods and tools for designing greener\ud nanomaterials

Empowering citizens in international governance of nanotechnologies

The international dialogue on responsible governance of nanotechnologies engages a wide range of actors with conflicting as well as common interests. It is also characterised by a lack of evidence-based data on uncertain risks of in particular engineered nanomaterials. The present paper aims at deepening understanding of the collective decision making context at international level using the grounded theory approach as proposed by Glaser and Strauss in "The Discovery of Grounded Theory'' (1967). This starts by discussing relevant concepts from different fields including sociological and political studies of international relations as well as political philosophy and ethics. This analysis of current trends in international law making is taken as starting point for exploring the role that a software decision support tool could play in multi-stakeholder global governance of nanotechnologies. These theoretical ideas are then compared with the current design of the SUN Decision Support System (SUNDS) under development in the European project on Sustainable Nanotechnologies (SUN, www.sun-fp7.eu). Through constant comparison, the ideas are also compared with requirements of different stakeholders as expressed during a user workshop. This allows for highlighting discussion points for further consideration