Risk Perception.

1.1.Understand how people’s knowledge, experience and attitude affect their perception of risk

The Health and Safety Executive define risk as the "likelihood of the hazard's potential being realised". A hazard is something with potential to cause harm.

Risk refers to potential future that can only be guessed at. So, "Risk" means different things to different people. You may assess risk differently if you are on the receiving end of the possible risks. Yet it is often presented as objective science.

Can we measure the risks from totally different hazards? And how do you determine whether a risk is "significant"?

These are all difficult questions that must be answered in order to carry out a risk assessment, which you will do in Unit 2 (LO2)

1. What is "harmful"?

Determine what the various interest groups (employers/employees/public) may consider harmful

Look at these cases..http://www.hse.gov.uk/campaigns/worksmart/videos/#agriculture

2, Who can carry out a risk assessment

Decide who can carry out a Risk Assessment, considering employers, employees, safety representatives, inspectors and neighbours

3. Identify the different ways to assess risk

Do you consider risk in terms of slight/serious, acute/chronic, likely/unlikely, you/others

4. Ways of Seeing

Demonstrate how different 'ways of seeing' can influence a risk assessment

Factors which can influence perception

Risks which are involuntarily imposed (eg pollution from pesticides) tend to be seen as less acceptable than voluntary ones (eg driving a buggy).

Unfamiliar risks (eg genetically modified organisms) tend to cause greater concern, particularly if they are considered to be poorly understood by science.

Activities which pose a threat of a dreaded form of death, injury or illness (eg cancer) are viewed with alarm and are less acceptable.

Man-made or 'technological risks' (eg pesticides) are less acceptable than natural ones (eg floods and radon).

A risk which may cause a single large-scale consequence (eg civil aviation accident) causes more concern than risks which result in numerous small-scale consequences (eg car accidents).

Alarm may be caused by risks when the consequences of exposure are delayed and cause hidden or irreversible damage (eg exposure to ionising radiation).

Inequitable distribution of risks and benefits as a result of a particular activity is likely to make a risk less acceptable.

Activities which pose a risk to certain groups such as children and future generations are generally more worrying.

Risks which are the subject of controversy and contradictory information generally cause concern.

Extracted from DEFRA Environmental Risk Assessment, Social Aspects

Time 2 hours

Recommend control measures