An investigation of the economic perspective in modeling occupational risk

The existing approaches to modeling occupational risk assume that the goals of the enterprise and the worker are identical and that they are served through a mutually optimal performance level. This paper aims to challenge this assumption and indicate the implications in the absence of it. This discussion is conducted by focusing on the economic perspective through the application of utility analysis in workplace risk. Different cases of employment status are examined with special reference to rational and biased decision‐making under uncertainty. This analysis does not offer a new alternative to risk modeling on its own, but it can offer some important insight into this process. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.