Safety expenditure: Where should we draw the Line?

Abstract

The argument developed in this paper takes two points as axiomatic. First, it will be assumed that virtually every activity that we engage in carries some risk of death or injury. And second, it will be taken that in most situations safety can be improved, but typically only at a cost. This then raises the question of the extent to which society's scarce resources should be devoted to safety improvement, rather than to other beneficial uses, such as education, environmental protection, crime prevention and so on. In particular, the paper considers the extent to which procedures such as the application of safety standards, social-cost-benefit analysis or decision theory can be relied upon to provide answers to the controversial but vitally important question of how much society should spend on safety. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009.