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SUMMARY:Ethics\, risk and public works: models of optimal risk reduction -
  Luc Bovens (LSE)
DTSTART:20100225T163000Z
DTEND:20100225T180000Z
UID:TALK22039@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alex Broadbent
DESCRIPTION:A public works programme requires that a number of more and le
 ss hazardous tasks are being performed by a number of different people ove
 r a period of time. Now we wish to minimise the risk to the workers involv
 ed in the programme. But what does this mean? Even if we constrain ourselv
 es to the risk of death\, there are multiple interpretations of the ideal 
 of risk minimisation. Do we wish to minimize the number of expected deaths
  amongst workers? Do we wish to reduce the risk that is imposed on the mos
 t vulnerable workers? Do we wish to minimise the chance that even one work
 er dies? Do we wish to minimise the chance that more than an acceptable th
 reshold of deaths will occur? These all constitute different ideals of ris
 k minimisation. When we invest in risk minimisation\, we need to take into
  account certain technological constraints. Some investments may be highly
  effective in that they make substantial reductions to the risk involved i
 n certain tasks\, whereas other investment decisions may be less effective
  in doing so. We construct models to determine how we should allocate inve
 stments to reduce the spread of risk\, given a particular technology and g
 iven particular ideals of risk minimisation.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, History and Philosophy of Science\, Department o
 f
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