Abstract
In this paper, we developed seven judgment criteria to evaluate the degree of life cycle thinking observed in risk assessment practices. We also conducted an analysis of life cycle thinking based on 35 technical reports prepared by students of the "Environmental Risk Management Training Program" at Osaka University. The results of this analysis showed that almost all students conducted the environmental fate and risk assessment of chemicals released from individual production processes but they did not consider the life cycle impacts of the chemicals-product chain.
From this study, we reached the following conclusions: 1) few students used the life cycle thinking of the chemicals-product chain into the view of risk management, 2) the development of human resource is needed with specialized knowledge and skills to plan multiple strategies for risk management based on the results of risk assessment, 3) descriptions on the potential damages from risks derived from chemical substances to the organizational and social systems were absent from the large majority of the technical reports on risk assessment, and 4) on a positive note, that appropriate procedures were followed by the students in the assessment processes where methodologies had already been established.
