RISK

1.    Write notes on RISK.

RISK is the potential that something unwanted and harmful may occur.

a.   We take a risk when we undertake something or use a product that is not safe.

Risk in technology could include dangers of

b.           bodily harm,

c.           economic loss, or

d.          environmental degradation.

^Ø        Some may assume that “safety” is a concrete concept, while “risk” is a vague, hypothetical concept

^Ø        In fact, its the other way around

^Ø        Risks always exist. But true safety never exists, except in hypothetical situations

^Ø        So, risk is reality, safety is  fantasy

DEGREE OF RISK IS ACCEPTABLE

Safety is a matter of how people would find risks acceptable or unacceptable, if they knew the risks, and are basing their judgments on their most settled value perspective.

So, to this extent, it is objective.

Perspectives differ.

To this extent, it is subjective.

So, Safety is 'acceptable risk'.

Acceptable Risk

„A risk is acceptable when those affected are generally no longer (or not) apprehensive about it.‟

Apprehension (i.e. anxiety) depends largely on factors such as

^v        whether the risk is assumed voluntarily.

^v        how the probabilities of harm (or benefit) is perceived.

^v        job-related or other pressures that causes people to be aware of or to overlook risks.

^v        whether the defects of a risky activity or situation are immediately noticeable

or close at hand .

^ whether the potential victims are identifiable beforehand.

Voluntary risk and Control

A person is said to take „VOLUNTARY RISK‟

-when he is subjected to risk by either his own actions or action taken by others and -volunteers to take that risk without any apprehension.

-For example, John and Ann Smith enjoy riding motorcycles over rough ground for amusement. They take voluntary risk, part of being engaged in such a potentially dangerous sport.

Connected to this notion of voluntarism is the matter of Control. In the example cited, the Smiths are aware of the high probability of accident figures in such a sport, but they display characteristically unrealistic confidence of most people when they believe the dangers to be under their control. In terms of engineering as social experimentation, people are more willing to be the subjects of their own experiments than of someone else‟s (whether social experiment or not).

Chauncey Starr informs us that individuals are more ready to assume voluntary risks than involuntary risks, even when voluntary risks are 1000 times more likely to produce a fatality than the involuntary ones.

 A DISASTER = A seriously disruptive event + A state of unprepared ness.

	e.g., Titanic collision with an iceberg,	at night: Emergency
	Fewer lifeboats, inadequate training	and	warnings  of  icebergs
	unheeded -> Disaster.