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What Scares Us Doesn't Kill Us

How Humans Define Risk

We fear those things we don't understand. We fear unnatural things but natural things don't scare us. Radiation from nuclear plants is a huge issue, but coal plant radiation isn't regulated, even though they put out more radiation than does a nuclear plant (coal contains many radioactive elements). The graphic to the right explains it better.

Side Note - My firefighter and EMT friends will enjoy this - did you know that an ambulance is the safest place to be in the entire world? Nobody ever dies in an ambulance. (disclaimer - death doesn't legally occur until it is officially declared and the ambulance people can't declare someone dead - so someone may be dead before they're put in the ambulance, they may be dead right after they're taken off the ambulance, but they'll NEVER be dead while IN the ambulance!)

Understanding how we define risk is helpful to those of you involved in industries or projects that raise risk concerns. It can help you communicate with the public to help them understand - because the more we understand, the less we fear.

How many members of the public have been killed by nuclear power plants in the United States since the first plant began operating in 1956? None.

How many people have been killed by natural gas accidents? Sorry, I don't know, but it happens all the time. Yet most of us have pipes running under our yards that bring natural gas right into our homes! Yet, how many of us want to live next to a nuclear plant? (I live 8 miles from one and 13 miles from another, and wouldn't mind living between them)

In the UK around 4,000 people die in accidents at home every year, more than the number of people killed on the roads or at work, according to the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents. Around 2.7 million a year turn up at emergency departments looking for treatment.

This country spent hundreds of millions on nuclear plant security immediately after 9/11. They already had the best terrorism security of any industry. Our chemical industry had next to nothing, and we haven't done much since. Same with the real targets of terrorists, shopping malls, sports stadiums, etc.

A chemical plant accident could kill thousands in a matter of seconds (i.e.. Bhopal, India), and nobody was killed or even injured in the Three Mile Island nuclear accident - called the worst nuclear disaster in the U.S.

But, if we can save just one life, it's worth it. How many times have you heard that line? Let's run with that argument. If lowering the highway speed limit to 55 will save hundreds of lives - it only holds that lowering the speed limit to 45 would save hundreds more.

Hold it, won't someone just think about the children? Okay, so we'll lower the speed limit to 35. But wait, if 35 is safer than 55, wouldn't 25 be even safer? If it saves just one life - it's worth it. So 10 mph is even safer. How safe is safe enough?

Where do most accident happen? In the home. Where do most accidents in the home happen? In the bathroom. So doesn't it make sense that we should ban bathrooms?

I should be careful in what I propose. Many years ago I was interviewing a state legislator about a new "safety law" and asked him, facetiously, if what he was saying were true, it would make sense to have a law regulating the temperature of hot water in the home. It was the next year that the state passed just such a law! It regulates the temperature setting for new hot water heater installations.

Just look at the thousands of injuries in the UK from common household items and activities (Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents):
Flowerpots: On average 5,000 people a year in the UK end up in hospital because of accident with flowerpots making them more dangerous than equipment such as hedge trimmers.
Food containers: 67,000 people are injured every year trying to peel cellophane off sandwiches, opening a ready meal or opening a ring-pull can. Six out of ten of these, around 150 a day, stab themselves trying to open a jar or ready meal with a knife.
Tea Cosy: In 1999 37 people were injured seriously enough to be admitted to hospital as a result of tea cosy injuries.
Fridge: Refrigerators injure more than 1,000 people a year.
Dishwasher: Besides all the scalding injuries, in 2003 a woman fell onto a protruding knife while removing the clean dishes and was killed
Beds: More than 50,000 people were injured in 'bed-related' accidents in 2002. Pillow cases caused 103 injuries severe enough to require medical attention.
Bears: More people are killed by teddy bears in the UK here than by grizzly bears in those countries which have them.
Cotton Swabs: Twice as many people are injured from cotton swabs as from razors, both normal and electric.
Bras: Two women were killed in London when a bolt of lightning hit the metal underwiring in their bras. A study in 1991 showed that women who never wore a bra had half the risk of breast cancer compared to those who did.
Socks: Around 10,700 people a year end up at the hospital through injuries caused predominantly while putting on their socks.
Chainsaws vs. Newspapers: Chainsaws are the cause of around 1,200 injuries a year but this pales when compared to the 4,300 injured by newspapers and magazines.
Boots: An average 5,600 hospital admissions each year.
Birdbaths: In one year 311 people went to hospital as a result of them.
Sponges: 966 people who ended up in hospital in one year from sponge injuries.
Vegetables: The New Scientist magazine reported that "the number of injuries inflicted by vegetables remains unacceptably high, at 13,132".
Armchairs: The number of injuries requiring treatment as a result of armchair-caused injuries is falling, but it is still a staggering 16,600 a year!

In national research in the U.S., the public and experts always disagree on what is dangerous. In fact, when asked to rank various risks like nuclear power, smoking, etc., the public ranking is usually opposite from the experts (and reality).

The take-away from this lesson - learn about risk perception. Only then can you hope to be successful in your risk communications.

Less Risky

Risk perception is a communication issue.