An empirical approach for defining acceptable levels of risk: a case study in team sports

To determine acceptable levels of risk in sport and to compare these with values used in occupational settings.

Cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study.

Seven soccer and 11 rugby union teams.

140 male athletes and 108 male and 100 female spectators associated with soccer and rugby union teams.

Views on acceptable frequencies with which athletes sustain acute injuries of various levels of severity.

The responses of athletes and spectators were similar, although spectators consistently indicated a higher acceptable frequency of injury than athletes. There were no significant differences in responses as a function of respondents' gender and age. The results confirmed an inverse relationship between the acceptable frequency of occurrence and the severity of injury, although the relationships identified by the risk-averse and risk-taking minorities within the sample population were widely different.

The mean frequency-severity risk relationship identified by athletes and spectators in soccer and rugby was similar to the relationship routinely used for risk assessments in industry and commerce.