Individual Risk 1
Individual Risk 1 : The frequency at which an individual may be expected to sustain a given level of harm from the realisation of specified hazards. The usefulness and limitations of some of the above concepts can be illustrated by an example. One might assume that 10 tonnes of a toxic material poses a greater threat than 1 tonne. However, whether any quantity actually poses a hazard depends upon the circumstances under which it is held. In the case of bulk storage, the larger quantity evidently has more potential for causing harm since, where released rapidly under the same conditions, harmful concentrations would extend to a greater distance. Although the larger quantity, in this case, could be said to pose a greater hazard, the magnitude of the effects resulting from an actual release depends on many other factors. There may be no people within this range of harmful effects and therefore no risk of injury. If there are people present, the number affected may vary depending on the wind direction, weather conditions and other factors as well as the quantity released. The likelihood of various sizes of detrimental effects to a population has been defined as the societal risk. The maximum number of people that could be harmed in an accident and the associated probability of occurrence is part of this concept. This maximum possible number affected in any one accident will usually be less than the total number of people who are within the range of possible harmful effects. Societal risk tells one nothing about its geographical distribution. People in the prevailing downwind direction from the storage would be more likely to be affected than those in the opposite direction. This will be reflected in the level of individual risk at such locations
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