Forty years of development in the science and technology of estimating and quantifying risk, of understanding of human behaviour and human rationale has made decision makers more informed. We are in a much better position now, than forty years ago in estimating probabilities, consequences, and damages, and in estimating and dealing with the associated uncertainties in an organised way. This did not take away the fundamental questions about the acceptability of activities bearing risk. It did not take away the differences between people and groups of people and it did not take away that these decisions are difficult.mind. More worrying is that acquired knowledge is disappearing. Knowledge that is not obsolete and irrelevant, but still is necessary to keep our systems going and risk under control.There has been a time without internet and without tablets or personal computers. A time when information travelled slowly, accidents became known only to a limited number of people and often long after the event. Where conferences such as these were the medium to exchange this information and papers were typed on typewriters. Forty years ago, a number of nasty acci-