RISK

All engineering projects have an element of risk. The

task of the engineer in any project is to assess all the
possible risks involved, and try to allow for them in
the design.

EXАМPLES OF RISK
Simple risk: When you wield a hammer you may hit
your
thumb instead of the nail.

Serious risk: Engineers may not allow enough in their

calculations for building design for the structure to
withstand a powerful earthquake.
 FUKUSHIМА
On Мarch 11, 2011, an unprecedented tsunami
overwhelmed the 30-ft. seawall at the Japanese
town of Fukushima, and the nuclear reactor behind
it, causing a major leak of radioactive material. No
one was killed immediately by the radioactivity but
some 20,000 died from drowning or other events
following the tsunami. The sea wall was very high,
but should the engineer have built it higher? The
huge wall of water was much more dangerous
than the radioactivity.

ВRIDGES
On December 28, 1879, the Tay Bridge collapsed as a
train crossed during a gale, causing 75 deaths. The
engineer, Sir Thomas Вouch, had been wrongly
advised about wind pressure, and the cast iron used in
the bridge was found to be substandard.

Bridges and similar structures are often deliberately

over- engineered, allowing for much greater loads
than are expected.
АUTOМOTIVE TRАVEL

Because they are in control of a car but are helpless in

a plane, most people have poor judgment of the risk of
each, and do not realize that driving a car is far more
dangerous than flying. In the United States alone some
35,000 people die in car crashes each year, while in
the whole world, on average, fewer than 1,000 die in
plane crashes.