Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 20 views

    Engineering Ethics: Aiub DR M Tanseer Ai Eng Ethics Lec 5 /1

    Uploaded by

    World Station
    The document discusses the concept of safety in engineering. It defines safety as risks being judged acceptable by reasonable people based on their values. Absolute safety is impossible, and risk is defined as potential for unwanted harmful outcomes. Acceptable risk depends on factors like voluntariness, knowledge of probabilities, and effects being proximate. Risk-benefit analysis is used to determine if projects' benefits outweigh their risks, looking at expected values of both. Personal and public risks differ, and technology has improved safety in some areas like floods and earthquakes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Engineering Ethics: Aiub DR M Tanseer Ai Eng Ethics Lec 5 /1

    Uploaded by

    World Station
    20 views7 pages
    The document discusses the concept of safety in engineering. It defines safety as risks being judged acceptable by reasonable people based on their values. Absolute safety is impossible, and risk is defined as potential for unwanted harmful outcomes. Acceptable risk depends on factors like voluntariness, knowledge of probabilities, and effects being proximate. Risk-benefit analysis is used to determine if projects' benefits outweigh their risks, looking at expected values of both. Personal and public risks differ, and technology has improved safety in some areas like floods and earthquakes.

    Original Title

    EE Fin 5

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses the concept of safety in engineering. It defines safety as risks being judged acceptable by reasonable people based on their values. Absolute safety is impossible, and risk is defined as potential for unwanted harmful outcomes. Acceptable risk depends on factors like voluntariness, knowledge of probabilities, and effects being proximate. Risk-benefit analysis is used to determine if projects' benefits outweigh their risks, looking at expected values of both. Personal and public risks differ, and technology has improved safety in some areas like floods and earthquakes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    20 views7 pages

    Engineering Ethics: Aiub DR M Tanseer Ai Eng Ethics Lec 5 /1

    Uploaded by

    World Station
    The document discusses the concept of safety in engineering. It defines safety as risks being judged acceptable by reasonable people based on their values. Absolute safety is impossible, and risk is defined as potential for unwanted harmful outcomes. Acceptable risk depends on factors like voluntariness, knowledge of probabilities, and effects being proximate. Risk-benefit analysis is used to determine if projects' benefits outweigh their risks, looking at expected values of both. Personal and public risks differ, and technology has improved safety in some areas like floods and earthquakes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    You are on page 1of 7

    Engineering Ethics

    Lecture 5

    AIUB Dr M Tanseer Ai Eng Ethics Lec 5 /1


    Concept of Safety

    ❑ Absolute safety is never attainable nor affordable, in


    the senses of
    ❑ (a) entirely risk-free activities and products, or
    ❑ (b) a degree of safety that satisfies all individuals or groups
    under all conditions.
    ❑ According to William W. Lowrance: “A thing is safe if
    its risks are judged to be acceptable.”
    ❑ A modified version of Lowrance’s definition: A thing is
    safe if, were its risks fully known, those risks would
    be judged acceptable by reasonable persons in light
    of their settled value principles.

    AIUB Dr M Tanseer Ali Eng Ethics Lec 5 /2


    Risks

    ❑ A risk is the potential that something unwanted and


    harmful may occur.
    ❑ William D. Rowe refers to the risk as “potential for
    the realization of unwanted consequences from
    impending events.”
    ❑ In regard to technology, it can equally well include
    dangers of bodily harm, of economic loss, or of
    environmental degradation.
    ❑ These in turn can be caused by delayed job
    completion, faulty products or systems, or
    economically or environmentally injurious solutions
    to technological problems.

    AIUB Dr M Tanseer Ali Eng Ethics Lec 5 /3


    Risks
    ❑In addition to measurable and identifiable hazards
    arising from the use of consumer products and
    from production processes in factories, some of
    the less obvious effects of technology are now
    also making their way to public consciousness.
    ❑Technology has greatly reduced the scope of
    some of these, such as floods and earthquakes.

    AIUB Dr M Tanseer Ali Eng Ethics Lec 5 /4


    Acceptable Risk
    ❑ William D. Rowe says that “a risk is acceptable
    when those affected are generally no longer (or not)
    apprehensive about it.”
    ❑ Apprehensiveness depends to a large extent on
    how the risk is perceived.
    ❑ This is influenced by such factors as
    (1) whether the risk is accepted voluntarily;
    (2) INFORMATION: the effects of knowledge on how the
    probabilities of harm (or benefit) are known or perceived;
    (3) Job-Related: if the risks are job-related or other
    pressures exist that cause people to be aware of or to
    overlook risks;
    (4) Magnitude: whether the effects of a risky activity or
    situation are immediately noticeable or are close at hand;
    (5) Proximity: whether the potential victims are identifiable
    beforehand.

    AIUB Dr M Tanseer Ali Eng Ethics Lec 5 /5


    Assessing Risk
    Figure 5–1
    Why both low-risk and high-risk
    products are costly. P = primary
    cost of product, including cost of
    safety measures involved; S =
    secondary costs, including
    warranties, loss of customer
    goodwill, litigation costs, costs of
    downtime, and other secondary
    costs. T = total cost. Minimum
    total cost occurs at M, where
    incremental savings in primary cost
    (slope of P) are offset by an equal
    incremental increase in secondary
    cost (slope of S). Highest
    acceptable risk (H) may fall below
    risk at least cost (M), in which case
    H and its higher cost must be
    selected as the design or operating
    point.
    AIUB Dr M Tanseer Ali Eng Ethics Lec 5 /6
    Risk-Benefit Analyses
    ❑ Many large projects, especially public works, are justified on
    the basis of a risk-benefit analysis.
    ❑ The questions answered by such a study are the following:
    ❑ Is the product worth the risks connected with its use?
    ❑ What are the benefits?
    ❑ Do they outweigh the risks?
    ❑ We are willing to take on certain levels of risk as long as the
    project (activity, product, or system) promises sufficient
    benefit or gain.
    ❑ Both risks and benefits lie in the future. As there is some
    uncertainty associated with them, we should address their
    expected values.
    ❑ It should be noted that risk-benefit analysis, like cost-benefit
    analysis, is concerned with the advisability of undertaking a
    project.
    ❑ Personal Risk versus Public Risk
    ❑ Examples of Improved Safety

    AIUB Dr M Tanseer Ali Eng Ethics Lec 5 /7

    You might also like