Every person is at risk, consciously or not, every day. It is completely objective and accompanies almost any activity. People take risks by overcoming dangers in everyday life, in transport, in production. We further consider the concept of acceptable risk.
General information
Risk is a measure of expected adversity, failure, the risk of adverse consequences for a person. It also includes certain phenomena, the appearance of which contains the probability of material losses. The term “risk” is associated with worldview (conceptual) approaches to the safety of life and activity. In the process of developing the technological sphere, a person’s awareness of the nature of threats was considered from various points of view.
Key Approaches
First of all, the concept of absolute security, or "zero risk", should be noted. This approach is known as maximum reliability theory. In accordance with it, it is assumed that the necessary material costs for training personnel, protective equipment, as well as strict monitoring of the implementation of established rules and standards will be able to ensure complete safety. There is also a deterministic approach, or the concept of normal accidents. This theory was developed in the 80s of the last century in some countries. Among them, in particular, are the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Currently, this approach is being actively developed in many states. In the framework of this theory, the impossibility of providing absolute security is recognized. The concept involves considering the risk of major disasters with serious consequences. The third, combined approach recognizes the inevitability of accidents, however, it involves minimizing them on the basis of an in-depth analysis of threats in the design of systems, as well as priority financing of security measures, and strict implementation of legislative norms, instructions and rules.
Deterministic Approach
It is based on the concept of acceptable risk. In theory, a threat, on the one hand, corresponds to a practically achievable degree of security. In other words, the danger is as low as possible. Acceptable risk, on the other hand, is a reasonably achievable degree of security in terms of the balance of income. This theory can be expressed in simple words. Security according to the deterministic approach is as much as a person is willing to pay for it.
Traditional theory
It was based on the desire for "complete security." The essence of the theory was to implement measures to eliminate any threat posed by technology, the introduction of all practicable protective measures. At present, mankind has come to understand that complete security is unattainable or will be associated with huge and often unjustified costs. Moreover, the requirements of the traditional approach, despite the humanity of goals, turn into a real tragedy for people. This is due to the fact that ensuring a zero threat in today's systems is impossible. Therefore, a person must assume the likelihood of danger.
The content of the concept of acceptable risk
Since the late 70s and 80s of the last century in industrialized countries in the framework of research related to security, a gradual rejection of the theory of complete security began. If the scientists working at that time could be asked: “Explain the content of the concept of acceptable risk”, then they would explain that the essence of the approach is to reduce the threat to the extent that society accepts in a specific time period.
Indicators
Currently, the amount of acceptable risk for a particular type of activity has been identified. It is such an indicator of the degree of danger with which society at this stage of its development can put up with. In other words, an acceptable level of risk of mortality, disability, and personal injuries does not affect the safety of the enterprise, the economic industry, or the entire state as a whole. At the same time, the opposite indicator was also deduced. Unacceptable risk - the level at which it is necessary to take measures to eliminate the danger. Some factors that cause long-term dangerous effects do not have an action threshold. If they begin to influence only when the norms are exceeded (for example, the acceptable concentration of the compound), the maximum acceptable risk will correspond to this threshold. For an ecosystem, such an indicator is a condition in which at least 5% of biogeocenosis can be affected. The permissible (acceptable) risk is 2-3 orders of magnitude “stricter” than the actual one, that is, its introduction is directly aimed at ensuring human protection.
Specificity
Acceptable risk is a limit established taking into account political, economic, social and technical aspects. It is a definite compromise between the required degree of security and the possibilities of achieving it. Any society has limited resources. If you invest an unreasonably large amount of money in activities aimed at reducing the technical threat, then financing of social, economic and other areas will decrease. In other words, as security costs increase, the threat will decrease. However, this will increase the socio-economic risk. The cumulative threat curve will have a minimum at a certain ratio between investing in the public and technical spheres. When determining acceptable risk, this must be considered.
Safety criteria
Within the framework of the theory, some characteristics of the technique have been developed that determine an acceptable individual risk and the degree of threat to society as a whole. These criteria include:
- The mathematical probability of damage is not more than 1% of public expenses for the creation, use and liquidation of an object. This indicator characterizes the acceptable risk to society.
- The likelihood of serious injury or death is not higher than household damage from accidental negative factors. This criterion is established for a person from the population.
- The likelihood of a health hazard is no greater than for less hazardous occupations. This criterion is set for staff.
Principles
The determination of indicators that correspond to acceptable risk is a special policy of the state and society, which is based on a number of fundamental provisions. The key principles of its implementation should include:
- Setting qualitatively new goals and security objectives. This, in particular, is about the transition from a policy of completely eliminating the threat, aimed solely at improving the technosphere, to indicators aimed at improving the environment and the health of every citizen and society as a whole.
- Development of methods for the quantitative analysis of hazardous factors based on risk research methodology.
- Reorientation of the security monitoring system. This, in particular, is about the transition from concentration on threatening factors to monitoring their impact on public health and the environment. At the same time, control over negative conditions should be maintained.
- Development of ways to determine the acceptable balance between threats and the benefits of a particular type of activity. these methods should be based on an assessment of social preferences, existing economic opportunities and their environmental constraints.
Implementation specifics
The degree of introduction of the concept in different countries today is different. In some states, it is enshrined in law. For example, in the Netherlands it was adopted by parliament in 1985 and elevated to the rank of normative act. This country is considered as a model of the state in which the most widely applied probabilistic approaches in practical activities related to ensuring the safety of citizens during the operation of production facilities. In other states, for example, in Japan, Canada, etc., the scope of implementation of the concept is more limited. However, in all countries there is a tendency to expand the boundaries of its application. As for Russia, acceptable risks are significantly higher than indicators accepted in other states as unacceptable.
Negligible threat
At this risk level, further safety measures are considered inappropriate. This position is due to the fact that subsequent activities will require significant costs. In this case, the environment and the population in any case will be exposed to almost the same risk due to the influence of other factors. Along with this, there is a maximum degree of threat. This indicator cannot be exceeded, regardless of the size of the costs. Between these levels lies the area within which it is necessary to reduce risk by seeking a compromise between financial loss and social gain.
Conclusion
Under the theory of acceptable risk, improving the quality of life of all citizens is significantly limited. This is due to the fact that its implementation does not take into account the public utility (benefit) from advanced technologies, which in the initial stages may be accompanied by increased danger to those who implement them. This causes their rejection in society. Meanwhile, new technologies are still mastered by man and are used as a means of survival and the subsequent improvement of the quality of life. In this regard, the justified risk theory should be used along with the concept of acceptable threat as a regulator of public safety. In accordance with it, that indicator of danger that is appropriate for society is considered optimal. The safety of directly risking citizens at a particular stage of scientific and technological progress cannot be ensured at an acceptable level. In this regard, these members of the company should receive economic compensation. They can be expressed in kind or in cash. Due to this, if it does not decrease, then, in any case, the impact of negative factors is smoothed out.