Abstract
The approach taken by engineers to manage technological risks has been changing in recent years. In the past, engineers dealt with risk as an engineering problem. Engineering safety factors were and still are a basic feature of the design of any structure, and these safety factors were institutionalized into codes and standards. Those risks which remained inherent in engineering designs were considered to be tolerable residuals, and were not explicitly analyzed. The question, “How safe is safe enough?,” was dealt with implicitly through the use of safety factors, and over time, trial-and-error experience provided feedback for the adjustment of safety factors and for the recognition and correction of failure-prone designs.
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© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Whipple, C. (1985). Opportunities for the Social Sciences in Risk Analysis—An Engineer’s Viewpoint. In: Covello, V.T., Mumpower, J.L., Stallen, P.J.M., Uppuluri, V.R.R. (eds) Environmental Impact Assessment, Technology Assessment, and Risk Analysis. NATO ASI Series, vol 4. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70634-9_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70634-9_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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