Normalization and Comparison of the Risk to Human Health from Different Sources of Harm

A special indicator is recommended for use in establishing universal safety norms for the public and for workers and other levels of decision making concerning protective measures as well as for comparing different sources of risk. It is defined as the reduced yearly harm - the years of lost healthy life as a result of the action of a source of risk for a given year. Universal safety norms in terms of this quantity are proposed. Derivative safety norms for ionizing radiation and certain other specific sources of risk, including chemical contaminants of the environment, are obtained based on them. Other universal and derivative levels for making decisions, including the level of negligible risk, are proposed. Recommendations are made for methods and indicators for comparing different sources of risk. Instructive examples of comparing different forms of risk are presented.