Civil Engineering Reference
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voluntary activities in which an individual evaluates and adjusts his/her
exposure to risk (individual risk criteria); and (ii) risk associated with invol-
untary activities, where risk levels are specifi ed by regulations from govern-
mental agencies (societal risk criteria). The benchmark for involuntary risk
level is 10
−6
(Paté-Cornell 1994). Setting this type of an acceptable risk
threshold is often exacerbated for voluntary and involuntary risk exposures
(Hall and Wiggins 2000). The public is typically willing to accept a risk level
1000 times greater for
voluntary
risks than for
involuntary
risks (Starr 1969).
Individual risk
The
individual risk
is defi ned in terms of annual probability of being harmed
or killed due to a hazardous situation (Vrijling
et al.
1995; Diamantidis
2008). Table 6.2 summarizes the personal risk associated with different
activities for developed countries. Indeed, the activities summarized in
Table 6.2 can be categorized in terms of voluntary and involuntary risk.
Thus, considering the voluntary compared to involuntary activities, the
personally acceptable probability of failure
P
fi
can be computed as (Vrijling
et al.
1995; Diamantidis 2008):
Table 6.2
Fatality accident rate for various activities
During
activity
1
(per 10
8
hours)
Proportion
of time
(average)
Annual
probability
(1/year)
Cause of death
Rock climbing
4000
0.005
1/500
Motorcycle accidents
300
0.01
1/3000
Skiing
130
0.01
1/8000
Workers in high-rise building industry
70
0.2
1/700
Deep sea fi shing
50
0.2
1/1000
Workers on offshore oil and gas rigs
20
0.2
1/2500
Disease average for 40-44 age group
17
1
1/600
Travel by air
15
0.01
1/70 000
Travel by car
15
0.05
1/13 000
Disease average for 30-40 age group
8
1
1/1200
Coal mining
8
0.2
1/6000
Travel by train
5
0.05
1/40 000
Construction industry
5
0.2
1/10 000
Agriculture (employees)
4
0.2
1/12 000
Accidents in the house
1.5
0.8
1/9000
Travel by local bus
1
0.05
1/200 000
Chemistry industry
1
0.2
1/50 000
California earthquake
0.2
1
1/50 000
1
The number of fatalities per 100 million hours spent on the activity.
Source: Diamantidis (2008).
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