In this 10 part series of Reducing Risk Tolerance we will explore each of the ten factors that influence risk rolerance and provide more details about each.  When taken together, this series should provide a more comprehensive review of the factors that influence risk tolerance so action can be taken to reduce risk toerlance and keep people safer. The factors that influence personal risk tolerance are:

• Overestimating one’s own capability and experience (increases risk tolerance)
• Familiarity with the task i.e. complacency (increases risk tolerance)
• Seriousness of the potential safety outcome (decreases risk tolerance)
• Voluntary actions and sense of being in control (increases risk tolerance)
• Personal experience with an outcome (decreases risk tolerance)
• Cost or implications of non-compliance (decreases risk tolerance)
• Confidence in the equipment (increases risk tolerance)
• Confidence in PPE and rescue (increases risk tolerance)
• Potential profit / gain from the action (increases risk tolerance)
• Role models accepting risk (increases risk tolerance)

This episode discuss how understanding and knowing the seriousness of the potential safety outcomes tends to decrease risk tolerance when undertaking a job.  

Have you ever been curious as to why that on the big, complex or complicated jobs that it isn't very often that people get hurt?  In part, it is is because most of the people involed in the job understand the seriousness of what can go wrong so things are planned in detailed and checked, double checked and double-double checked.  The people involed with the task are on high alert because they know that if something were to happen that the outcome could be pretty serious and someone ccould loose their life.  In general, as people are aware of the seriousness of the potential safety outcomes that their attention increases and they are a lot more careful.  As the knowledge about the potential risks increase (i.e. safety outcomes) risk tolerance tends to decrease.

We often do this inherently in our peresonal lives as well.  Think about when you might be teaching yoru child to cut the grass for the first time.  You teach them, thell them what can go wrong, how seriously things can go wrong, and then you watch and supervise them closely to make sure that they are executing the task in a correct manner.  

At work, our approach should be no different.  Before the start of a job we should talk about the potential consquences of what coudl go wrong, and how bad it could be if it were to go wrong.  The discussion should be used not ti incite fear to the point of inaction, but to highlight the gravitas of the the situation and to focus the mind on the task and to identify additional safeguards that could be implemented to make the task even safer.  Knowing how bad something can go should be part of the risk tolerance reduction arsenal thatis used before every job.  Sometimes th discussion might even surprise the older-hands that have done the job time and time again, but haven't fully realized, or remembered, the severity of the potential consequences.