Public perceptions

Equation 1.4-7 showed that as long as consequences are small enough, that effects are lineai, i.e., not so catastrophic as to affect the perpetuation of civilization, the number of injuries or fatalities in either case are the same whether or not there are many small accidents or a few large accidents. But the public, either because of information sources or for more fundamental reasons does not see it this way. Since the public affects government, public perception is a concern. 

Another approach to public perception of risk is to simply ask the public. This was the approach of Fischoff ct al., 1977 in which a survey of the League of Women Voters in Eugene, Oregon was taken. Later studies covered 40 college students at the University of Oregon, 25 Eugene businessmen and 15 national experts in risk analysis. 

In the United States, as in many European countries, there is a level of awareness of process safety based on industry history and experience, public perception (as influenced by the news media), and regulatory activity. This level of awareness provides a foundation for the process safety management implementation processes. 

Section 13.2 Qualitative Risk Scenarios Section 13.3 Quantitative Risk Non-carcinogens Section 13.4 Quantitative Risk Carcinogens Section 13.5 Risk Uncertainties/Liinitations Section 13.6 Risk-Based Decision Making Section 13.7 Public Perception of Risk... 

The reader should note that the general risk subject areas, uncertainties and llie public perception are treated agdn in Part IV, Chapter 18. 

Section 18.2 Risk Cliaracterization Section 18.3 Cause-Consequence Analysis Section 18.4 Qualitative Hazard Risk Analysis Section 18.5 Quantitative Hazard Risk Analysis Section 18.6 Uncertainties/Limihitions Section 18.7 Public Perception of Risk Section 18.8 Risk Communication... 

Public perception of RFG regarding health effects of ethers, price increase, and engine performance complaints... 

These challenges are critical to the profession of chemical engineering, the chemical industry, and our country. Risk assessment and management involve input from a multitude of different disciplines. The methodology is rapidly changing and extremely complex and reqrrires both technical input and input from professionals with expertise in legal, economic, judicial, medical, regrrlatory, and public perception issues. 

Still, some members of the lay public are clearly skeptical of science and scientists, as indicated by the view of the profession presented on the cover of a national magazine in Figure 6.110 Although we may be assured that scientists as a group are no more deficient in morals than, say, cartoonists, it is important to understand the basis of public perceptions and to examine the practical implications for laboratory management. Industrial products are very widely distributed and many are used intimately. There are real consequences that can arise from a serious error in manufacture or design, as illustrated by the case of L-tryptophan. 

Loss of reputation (public perception of risk, public aversion to accidents involving serious injury or fatality)... 

While potential attacks on all modes of transportation are of concern, the Committee on Assessment of Security Technologies for Transportation believes that the U.S. air transportation system continues to have a high priority for counterterrorism resources, both because of its economic importance and because of the intensified public perception of risk following the September 11, 2001, attacks. The air transportation system can also serve as a testbed for the development of defensive technologies and strategies that can subsequently be applied to other transportation modes. 

Improved public perception and acceptance in the business community... 

In summary, the negative perception about all four issues seems strong and is not easy to refute the differences between the pro- and anti groups are in differences of perception, not provable facts. As a result, there have to be doubts whether development, say, of safer designs of reactors or repositories will greatly affect public perception What can ... 

It helps us with public perception, it helps us in the political arena, and it helps us operate our plants better. And to their great credit, the NRC commissioners have shown the necessary leadership to reform the regulatory process. 

There is a serious problem with public perception that the chemical industry needs to correct. In a survey of 1,012 U.S. adults commissioned by the American... 

In addition to some technical difficulties outlined earlier, a number of non-technical issues must be satisfactorily addressed before its practice becomes widespread. Chief amongst these issues are the questions of public perception, ethics and costs. 

Because of the asymmetry of power between science and occultism, and the ever-growing public faith in the authority of science, the members of a borderland institution like the Alchemical Society had to work self-consciously to solidify its public perception as a scientific society. But the subject of the Society—alchemy—already enjoyed considerable prestige in the occult community. So the Alchemical Society used the impressive scientific and educational credentials of its membership as part of its self-validation in the eyes of the scientific world and the broader public. Most formal mentions by the Journal of its members (either as authors of papers or as participants in the... 

The four most cited accidents (Flixborough, England Bhopal, India Seveso, Italy and Pasadena, Texas) are presented here. All these accidents had a significant impact on public perceptions and the chemical engineering profession that added new emphasis and standards in the practice of safety. Chapter 13 presents case histories in considerably more detail. 

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