The Morality of Risk

Moral Maze

BBC

Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 609 Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2019

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fireworks are fun; they’re also dangerous. Hundreds of people are injured every November 5th and pets are frightened by the noise. What’s to be done? Sainsbury’s has become the first UK supermarket to stop selling fireworks and some MPs have called for an outright ban. They are heroes to some; to others, they are spoilsports, determined to see every jot of joy fizzle out like a damp roman candle. We take risks all the time, for better or worse, but is the long march of health and safety – from the Factory Act of 1833 to the smoking ban and beyond – taking us to a better place, or are we becoming an over-anxious, risk-averse nation? Risk assessments are vital – they can prevent lots of people from dying – but, despite the fact that ‘health and safety culture’ has extended its reach into almost every aspect of our lives, it failed to prevent the Grenfell Tower disaster. Risk aversion starts early. Children are nowadays less likely to walk to school on their own. Scotland is likely to become the first country in Europe to ban young footballers from heading the ball after research suggested they could be heading for dementia. When should statistical evidence of risk prompt a change of behaviour, either voluntary or state-enforced? Is it moral to accept a tiny level of personal risk for ourselves and our children, when the same statistics show that, across the population as a whole, that percentage risk adds up to hundreds or thousands of lost or ruined lives? Is risk-taking itself sometimes a good thing? In the world of economics it might cause a recession but it can also generate prosperity. In medicine a risky operation might kill the patient or it might be the way to save a life. Is it worth the risk of getting rid of risk? Featuring Kate Blincoe, Prof. Nick Chater, David Halpern and Dr Jamie Whyte

Producer: Dan Tierney.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to a program from BBC Radio 4. Good evening. I knew something had changed when I came back to BBC television news from a rather dangerous foreign posting in Africa. I'd spent four years at times risking my life on an almost daily basis without my bosses seeming overly concerned. The first thing I had to do back in the London newsroom was fill out a hazard assessment form in case I had to climb a ladder.
0:23.4	The health and safety movement is not new.
0:25.7	You can date it back to the factories act of 1833.
0:28.7	But of late it's been gathering momentum to the point where some say it's hampering our lives as well as protecting them.
0:35.4	You used to be able to guarantee that bonfire night would go with a bang, but no longer.
0:40.2	Sainsbury's has banned the sale of fireworks. Others will follow, citing human injuries and animal fright.
0:46.7	Footballers could soon be stopped from heading the ball. Scotland's in the lead,
0:50.5	after a report suggested it might make them more prone to dementia.
0:54.4	Oxford University's Students' Union has voted to stop applause at its meetings.
0:59.5	Clapping can make people nervous, they say.
1:02.2	It's easy to scoff, to say, Elfin's safety has gone too far.
1:06.5	But this is also the week the preliminary report on the Grenfell disaster has been published,
1:11.1	which some see as a powerful argument for saying it's not gone far enough.
1:15.8	Human existence is an inherently risky business, after all, nobody gets out alive.
1:20.1	But how far should we try to minimise risks, and how do we weigh that against unintended consequences?
1:26.1	What some see is a generation of overprotected
1:29.1	obese snowflake children, for instance. How morally risky is it to try to get rid of risk?
1:35.5	That's our moral maze tonight. The panel, Anne McHelvoy, senior editor at the economist, Mona Siddiqui,
1:40.2	Professor of Islamic and Inter-Religious studies at Edinburgh University, the former
1:44.6	Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo and the chief executive of the RSA Matthew Taylor.
1:50.6	Michael Portillo, are you a risk taker?
1:54.0	Funny you should ask that. As a child, I was rather frightened of fireworks and I wasn't
	...

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