The integrated risk management that we are striving toward should draw from ordinary risk management (ORM) and the precautionary principle (PP) to develop a coherent framework that incorporates insights from each. Already, we have established the beginning and end points. It should begin with more systematic ex ante risk assessment to sort cases into three classes: benign, manageable risks, and disproportionate threats; and the end-points should be tailored to the particular cases: ORM for manageable risks, with more potent precautionary remedies for cases that pose disproportionate threats. Yet work remains in fleshing-out the integrated framework.

The economic, utilitarian foundations of ORM decision theory contribute several key concepts. Cost-effectiveness – a given level of protection should be delivered at the lowest feasible cost – is always a relevant consideration. This is not about stinting on quantity and quality of protection, because we have specified a given level of protection; it is about avoiding waste, and it would be wasteful to spend more if exactly the same protection was available at a lower price. Risk–risk trade-offs always matter, in principle. If in a given circumstance action entails a risk but so does inaction, and different actions entail different risks, every effort should be made to compare the net risks, apples to apples, and (other things being equal) choose the alternative that entails the least net risk. To put it another way, it always makes sense to think carefully about the risk–risk trade-offs that are entailed in the choice of action.