Table 5 Contextualisation - Six possible sources of regulatory standards

External regulation

Sources, including national and international legal standards, that are situated entirely external to the risk governance stakeholders involved. Further details are in Table 1.

Collective or self-regulation

Technical and ethical standards determined by bodies of practitioners and experts (e.g. professional self-regulated associations) situated within the risk governance process. Bretton et al. (2015) noted that the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry (IAVCEI) report entitled “Professional conduct of scientists during volcanic crises” (Newhall et al. 1999) is a rare example of an attempt to issue authoritative 'self-regulating' standards.

Employer regulation

Standards established by government agencies and other employers that must be followed by individuals due to their contractual employment or engagement.

Bretton et al. (2015) differentiate between self-regulation standards and those dictated by employers.

Personal regulation

Individuals' personal standards based upon moral and ethical codes not dictated by their employers or outside agencies.

Expert regulation

'Traditional' standards of methodological probity for Mode-1 science determined by ad hoc communities of disciplinary specialists/peers. These standards were described by Weinberg (1972) and Nowotny (2003) respectively as the “criteria of traditional scientific excellence and quality control” and the “canons of scientific discipline”.

Negotiated regulation

Stakeholder-negotiated standards that are the product of iterative processes of deliberation.