What are acceptable levels of measurement decision risk?
The level of acceptable false accept or false reject risk primarily depends on the criticality of the decision. For example, an extremely small level of false accept risk is required for monitoring the core temperature of a nuclear reactor. Conversely, a much higher false accept risk is adequate in using a bathroom scale to decide your weight. An optimal level of risk can be determined by minimizing the sum of the cost of potential negative consequences of a given risk level and the cost of attaining it. ANSI/NCSL Z540.3 requires that the unconditional false accept risk accompanying all calibrations be no greater than 2%.
