risk taking
sympathy for victims
shift focus of safety meetings away from statistics - emphasizing instead the human element of safety ... aunt smokes two packs of cigaratettes -
*by sandman and slovic and their colleagues
shows factors that influence our risk perceptions table
Dr. Leonard Evans of General Motors research laboratories is quoted as saying
there are no epicycles and there is no phlogiston ... similarily there is no risk homeostatis
dr. john adams of university colelge, london uk
traffic fatality rates between countires with and without safety belt use laws. dramatic reductins in fatal vehicle crash rates after countries indtroduced seat-belt laws.
behavior is not only predicted by risk copensation theor, but also by the theory of psychological reactance discussed in chapter 3.
According to reactance theory some peopel feel as ense of freedom or accomplishemnt when tehy do not comply wtiht eh top-down regulations
perception
biased sensation
wilde - topd own rules and enforcement
canot be achived
Real vs. perceived risk
determiend by teh magnitude of loss if a mishap occurs, and the probablitly that hte lsos or accident will indeed occur. estimating the risk of injury from working with certain equipment is even mor edificult to determine, because works ituations vary so dramatically. auto crashes are the nation's leading cuase of lost productivity - greater than AIDS, cancer and heart disease (NAP 1985 - walker 1986)
1994 professional development conference of American society of safety engineers (ASSE)
distributed 40-page handouts to audience of more than 350 = diverse reactions
higher risk
exposure is mandatory hazard is unusual hazard is memorable hazard is catastrophic individual statistics hazard is unknown hazard is uncontrollable hazard affects vulnerable people only reducible inconsequential
Lower Risk
exposure is voluntary hazard is familiar hazard is forgetable hazard is cumulative collective statistics hazard is understood hazard is ocntorllable hazard afects anyoen preventable consequential
understood and controllable hazards
hazards we can explain and contorl cause much less alarm than hazards that are not understood and thus perceied as uncontrollable - goal of zero injuries. Total safety culture requuires commitment and involvement of all concerned
power of choice
hazards we choose to expeirence (driving, skiing, etc) are less risky than onews we feel forced to endure (food preservatives, enviornmental pollutin, etc.)
support from research
lack of protection reduced their risk taking of football players
Familiarity breeds complacency
major more powerful eterminenant of perceived risk than chocie. the more we know about a risk - the less it threatens us. driving - two hands to one hand
Sense of fairness
most people believe in a just and fair world (lerner) in other words most peoeple generally perceive the world as the large rather than the small fish. What goes around comes around
comparisons between people
notion of risk compensation made its debut among safety professioanls following the theorizing and archival research of university of chicago economist dr. sam peltzman
Perceived Risk
our expereicnes on the job lead us to perceive a relatively low level of risk. - we ususually get away awith risky behavior.
biased by context
recognize contextual biases.
selective perception
refers to our biased sensations. All perceptions result from our intentional or unintentional distortion of sensations, adding the adjective selective to perception is unnecessary and actually redundant.
risk compensation
risk homeostasis, risk or danger compensation, risk-offsetting behavior and perverse compensation. people are presumed to adjust their behavior to compesnate for changes in perceived risk
S of the Basic ID is
sensation - a human dimension that influences our thinking, attitudes, emotions and behavior.
power of publicity
tuen otu the familiar hazards of the workplace - constnatnly reminded about safety - but we ignore. It is publicized in media and on tov shows - injuries suffered by john wayne, bobbitt kerrigan influence mispeception of actual risk
acceptable consequences
we are lss likely to feel threatened by risk taking or a risk exposure that has its onw rewards. if few enefits are perceived by an at-risk behavior or enviornemental condition, outrage - or heightened perceived risk - is liekly to be the reaction, along with a concerted effort to prevent or ccurtail the risk. pereceive guns, cigarettes and alcohol as having limited benefit - and lobby to restrict those items
experience life on a selective basis
we use our 5 senses - -define (or encode) the infromation received -interpret its meaning or relevance to us -decide whether the information is worht remembering or repsonding to -plan an execute (if called for)
We do impose our individual bias
which is shaped by our past experiences personality, intentions, aspirations and expectations.