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 chapter discusses how Confidence in the Equipment tends to increase risk tolerance.  As we use a piece of equipment we get more comfortable with it.  And in some cases tools and equipment feel like they are an extension of our person as we become more and more proficient with their use.  But a downside of this confidence is that we can become too comfortable with a tool or equipment and feel like they won’t harm us.  We can place emotional belief in the capability of the equipment that it won't let us down or that it is more capable than it really is (i.e. a false sense of security).

Have you ever seen how the ditches along a highway are littered with four-wheel drive vehicles after a snow fall when the highways are slippery?  This risk tolerance factor is at least a partial answer as to why - the drivers have increased confidence in their equipment (i.e. vehicles) and therefore do not drive appropriately for the road conditions.  A 1995 study in the United States indicated that drivers of vehicles with airbags and ABS brakes are more likely to have an accident.  The enhanced safety measures gave the drivers more confidence in the vehicle’s abilities and then therefore took greater risks.

And this factor is at play as well when guards and safety features are disabled on tools and equipment and when workers don't use the equipment in a proper manner or location.  Think about the worker who braces a piece of lumber on his foot or thigh and then proceeds to use a circular saw to make a cut.  Or the worker who uses duct tape to hold down the safeguard on a nail gun to allow it to be fired when not fully braced against an object.  With a loss of “fear” or respect for the tool or quipment as a result of getting more comfortable with it, people tend to become more risk tolerant or take greater risks.

Part of the solution to combat this increased risk tolerance is to continue to discuss the limitations of the tools and equipment that are being used, the proper techiques for their usage and what could go wrong if something fails.  For example, even though cranes and lifting gear are routinely inspected, we still have to remind people to not stand under loads being lifted.  Lifting gear can fail, soft earth may exist under an outrigger, or the load may exceed the capability of the crane.  Bad things can happen even though we have confidence in our equipment so staying out of the line of fire is simply a smart move.  But we still see accidents that happen because of this and people taking chances by walking under suspended loads.  This is why the repetition of reminders, discussions and safety meeting topics is so important to combat this risk factor.