Risk Perception
Who is most at risk
Decide who is most at risk?
In terms of deaths: In last ten years
- 160 were employees
- 265 were self employed
- 64 were members of the public, of which
- 32 of these were children
under the age of 16 years old (6 children were killed last year)
The self-employed population has been increasing relative to the employed. Analysis of fatal incidence rates reveals one of the big issues is that whereas the employee fatal incidence rate roughly halved during the 15 year period to 2001, the rate for the self-employed and family-farm sub-sector was consistently higher and more than doubled. Moreover, this latter rate increased markedly over the five years to 2001.
There is a dramatic increase in the total temporary labour force of up to 580,000
in agriculture, horticulture and on-farm product processing. The focus on
migrant workers – a specific subset of the casual and temporary labour spectrum
– can be expected to increase in part as a the result of a number of high profile
work-related fatal accidents, most notably the twenty-one deaths on the tidal
flats at Morecambe Bay in February 2004.
Cloze Activity
Read the paragraph below and use the following words to fill in the gaps: Copy (Ctrl + C) each word and paste (Ctrl + V) into appropriate gap.
illness numerous natural involuntarily irreversible
inequitable unfamiliar children large-scale controversy
Risks which are imposed (eg pollution from pesticides) tend to be seen as less acceptable than voluntary ones (eg driving a buggy).
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 (eg cancer) are viewed with alarm and are less acceptable.
Man-made or technological risks (eg pesticides) are less acceptable than ones (eg floods and radon).
A risk which may cause a single consequence (eg civil aviation accident) causes more concern than risks which result in small-scale consequences (eg car accidents).
Alarm may be caused by risks when the consequences of exposure are delayed and cause hidden or damage (eg exposure to ionising radiation).
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 and future generations are generally more worrying.
Risks which are the subject of and contradictory information generally cause concern.
Extracted from DEFRA Environmental Risk Assessment, Social Aspects
Portfolio Activity
Take a copy of this screen showing the results of the cloze activity above, by hitting the PrtScrn button (far top right of keyboard).
Now go to your portfolio (Blank Portfolio). Find Unit 1 LO1, and paste the screen to the portfolio, by clicking Ctrl + V buttons together.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
LANTRA Awards: Controlling Risks in Agriculture Level 3