Using Standards in Risk Management Regulations: a Swedish Case Study

Risk management in land-use planning often boils down to practical decision-making situations, such as deciding on safe distances between residential buildings and other types of developments and dangerous goods transportation routes or hazardous industries. The practical approaches to managing risk in land-use planning vary across countries, ranging from prescriptive regulations on managing risk to non-standardized approaches requiring managing risks without detailing how to do it in practice. The current paper aims to contribute to the discussion on which regulatory approach is preferred by applying the current knowledge base on using standards in risk management to a specific case of recently published government recommendations for managing risk in land-use planning in Sweden. The approach of this paper is to compare the Swedish regulator's recent recommendations with a set of key aspects that should be considered when assessing the use of standards in risk management regulations. It is concluded that a hard regulatory approach is primarily favorable for non-complex land-use planning decision situations where conditions are well-known. A soft approach is more beneficial for complex decision situations characterized by significant uncertainties and an unfamiliar risk canvas. Reviewing the Swedish guideline, it can be concluded that the soft, process standard-type guideline intended for use in all land-use planning situations does not incorporate the current body of knowledge in the field.

Keywords: Standards, Standardization, Risk management regulations, Land-use planning, Transport of dangerous goods, Sweden.