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.