Risk is perceived differently by each individual. Some workers may consider a certain level of risk to be acceptable, while other workers would consider that level of risk to be unacceptable. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) evaluates residual risk during the rule-making process and uses what they define as an “acceptable risk level” in developing a standard.
1. Discuss to what extent you think individual risk perception should be used in establishing controls at individual workplaces.
2. Do you think OSHA’s definition of an acceptable risk is adequate, or do you think that each location should develop its own acceptable level of risk? Explain your answer