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Risk that is accepted in a given context based on the current values of society and in the enterprise.

This definition makes it clear that acceptable risk is related to a specific context. This means that risk is not accepted unconditionally. What is acceptable in one context is thus not necessarily acceptable in other contexts. Further, it is conditioned on current values and those values may change with time. Also, different societies and different enterprises may have different values.

The seminal book by Fischhoff et al. (1981) states that no risk is acceptable in isolation or in a universal sense. It is, therefore, somewhat misleading to talk about acceptable risk. They claim that one rather should speak in terms of acceptable options. The acceptability of an option represents a trade‐off among the full set of associated risk, costs, and benefits of this option. In turn, the desirability of these factors depends on the other options, values, and facts examined in the decision‐making process. Owing to this fact, the most acceptable option in an acceptable risk problem may not be the option with the least risk. According to Fischhoff et al. (1981):

Acceptable risk problems are decision problems, that is, they require a choice among alternatives. That choice is dependent on values, beliefs, and other factors. Therefore, there can be no single, all‐purpose number that expresses the acceptable risk for a society ….