Category: risk

Risk and Culture

Risk, most dictionaries agree, involves exposure to the possibility of loss or injury. Perceptions of this possibility are embedded in culture and vary enormously over space and time. One frequently encounters the contention that it is important to distinguish between real, actual, objective risks and those that are merely perceived. But all risk is perceived. Risk …

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Cycling and Safety: change must take root in people’s minds

  Last March I took part in a conference devoted to the promotion of cycling in Madrid. My presentation, in essay form, has now been published by World Transport: Policy and Practice. Herewith the abstract This essay is a response to an invitation to provide an overview of the current state of cycling in Britain, …

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A prize!!

This is a graphic record of the event. Jeremy Harrison, the head of the Institute of Risk Management, is laughing because I have just called him a sneaky bastard for inviting me to dinner without warning me that he had this in mind. And I am looking bemused because I was and still am. I …

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Been there. Got the T-shirt.

Yesterday was Risk Day in Birmingham’s Town Hall with numerous events and speakers focused on the theme. My contribution was rewarded with a conference T-shirt.   I suggested that since The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has its headquarters in Birmingham they might like to come over to take part in a discussion …

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Slides from my lecture on the public perception of risk

Powerpoint presentation delivered at Imperial College on October 14th 2013.

Pater knows best?

Risk compensation the proposition that a persons perception of risk influences their risk-taking behaviour has now become conventional wisdom.  No one now disputes that rock climbers with ropes will attempt manoeuvres that they would not attempt without them, or that trapeze artists will attempt manoeuvres with nets that they would not attempt without. The insurance …

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Now wash your hands

I recently visited an exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London entitled The Bride and the Bachelors: Duchamp with Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and Johns More recently I was invited to speak to a conference entitled Risk culture for charities organised by the Institute for Risk Management. I began my conference presentation with an overview of …

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Is ISO 31000 fit for purpose?

The debate Is ISO 31000 fit for purpose is the headline above a debate published in the June edition of Risk Management Professional for online version click here. The debate consisted of an abbreviated version of my blog ISO 31 000: Dr Rorschach meets Humpty Dumpty -­ and a rebuttal by Grant Purdy, one of …

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ISO 31000: the debate warms up

Until recently most online discussion of ISO 31000 has been confined to a friendly Linkedin site for supporters: two quotations – I know the ISO 31000 and think it’s almost perfect and I think the ISO 31000 definition of risk is great will convey the flavor of the critical discussion to be found on the …

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Post hoc, trees are dangerous

Last night (11/4/2012) I took part in an interesting Radio 3 discussion programme called Night Waves . The first contributor, Jonathan Haidt, was fascinating and Ive just ordered his new book The Righteous Mind. In the discussion he made a point that resonated with a problem that I have been wrestling with: discussing the relationship …

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