Emergency risk management is used to describe the likelihood of harmful consequences arising from the interaction of sources of risks, communities and the environment. Where the possibility exists of serious or irreversible harm, lack of scientific certainty should not preclude cautious action by decision-makers to prevent such harm. Management needs to anticipate the possibility of damage, rather than react to it as it occurs

The core business of emergency services is to ensure that risks to service workers are minimised and to maintain Community Safety. The research undertaken in risk management looks at a number of areas including improving the understanding of the links between risk and households, risk management in bushland environments, managing risks to infrastructure and risk management in the urban/rural interface where structures and other human development adjoin or overlaps with undeveloped bushland.

See further risk management information in the Industry Positions and Policies area of the Knowledge Web.