A Neutral Risk Framework for Active Participation Across the Lifespan: A Call to Action for Using Risk in Movement Contexts as a Tool for Human Flourishing

Abstract

Traditional risk management approaches focus on the prevention of negative short-term physical outcomes, such as injury. While the relationship between risk and harm has been useful for reducing workplace and transport injuries, it is inappropriate in movement contexts such as sport, leisure and education, where engagement with risk can be an important contributor to healthy human development and flourishing across the lifespan. We propose a neutral definition of risk informed by the 2009 International Organization for Standardization as the basis of a framework to support a rational approach to decision making around risk in movement contexts. The framework proposed herein considers the probability of all potential outcomes (positive, neutral, or negative) that could impact human development across the lifespan. Viewpoints from multiple timepoints (immediate to multi-generational) and levels (participant(s), proximal observers, local community, society) are included. The framework proposes two outcome streams: physical and psychosocial to avoid the pitfalls of a singular focus. The perception of risk is an individual experience that is subject to interpretation; as such, stakeholders relevant to the activity under consideration and representative of the intersectional identities of the community in which it takes place should be included in the process. This framework provides a rational approach for movement communities to adopt adequate safety practices (as opposed to surplus safety) in the creation and ongoing maintenance of movement opportunities that support flourishing for all.