Flashcards on Hazards, Risks, and Scientific Safety
Hazards, Risks, & Scientific Safety: Your Guide to Lab & Life
Tap to flip · Swipe to navigate
Risk and Laboratory Safety
16 cards
Card 1
Question: What is a hazard?
Answer: Something that could potentially cause harm.
Card 2
Question: How is 'risk' defined in relation to a hazard?
Answer: The chance that the hazard will cause harm.
Card 3
Question: Give an example of a known risk from pollution and one from travel.
Answer: Pollution can cause acid rain; travelling by car carries a risk of having a car accident.
Card 4
Question: Why must new technologies' risks be considered alongside their benefits?
Answer: Because scientific advances can bring new, uncertain risks (e.g. possible harm from nanoparticles) that need weighing against benefits like improved p
Card 5
Question: How can you estimate the size of a risk quantitatively?
Answer: By recording how many times something happens in a large sample (e.g. per 100,000 people) over a given period (e.g. a year).
Card 6
Question: What two factors must be considered when deciding if an activity is high risk?
Answer: The chance of the hazard causing harm and how serious the consequences would be if it did.
Card 7
Question: Why might people accept higher probability risks in some activities than others?
Answer: People accept higher probability risks when the consequences are short-lived and fairly minor.
Card 8
Question: How does choice affect willingness to accept risk?
Answer: People are more willing to accept risks they choose (e.g. going scuba-diving) than risks imposed on them (e.g. a nearby nuclear plant).
Card 9
Question: How do familiarity and unfamiliarity affect people's perception of risk?
Answer: People view familiar activities as lower risk and unfamiliar activities as higher risk, even if actual risk is different.
Card 10
Question: Give an example where perceived risk differs from actual risk.
Answer: Many view air travel as high-risk despite it being quite safe; cycling on roads can be high-risk but is often seen as acceptable because it's familiar