Understanding the Risks in Firefighting
One of the most dangerous tasks, combating fires exposes workers to significant hazards of both injury and fatalities. Therefore, these risks must be controlled at a level that is essentially realistic (Scarborough, 2017).
The Challenge of Acceptable Danger
Understanding the acceptable danger for a fireman presents a huge challenge. It is impossible to achieve a risk level of zero in the real world, and nothing can be completely risk-free. As a result, achieving zero risk in the firefighting profession is impossible because there is little chance that all incidents caused by fire hazards will ever occur. An acceptable risk means that after all the making all reasonable precautions, there is still a notable possibility that the firefighter might be injured or die in the process of firefighting.
Risk/Benefit Analysis in Firefighting
Life-and-death firefighting decisions involve a risk/benefit analysis based on two primary goals: the protection of the life of civilian and the firefighter and property protection. The minimum risk accepted in firefighting is assumed to that associated with saving property. It is advisable to take only a moderate risk as far as protecting property is concerned. Though defining the acceptable risks has always been a challenge, these threats have been considered to be those in which the benefit has a higher value than the negative possibilities posed by the risk. The acceptable level of risk is directly related to the potential interest of saving a life (Scarborough, 2017).
Frequent Statements on Acceptable Risks
Three critical statements are frequent when dealing with acceptable risks. "Risk a lot to save a lot," the acceptable risk here is only a potential lifesaving situation; "risking a little to save a little" the acceptable risk when there is a chance of protecting any property and "risking nothing to save nothing." There is no risk acceptable to the life of a firefighter when there is no possibility saving property or life (Scarborough, 2017). Therefore, emergency responders in fire tragedies are only to take an acceptable risk to their lives when forced to save lives from the fire tragedies.
References
Scarborough, R. C. (2017). Risk a Lot to Save a Lot: How Firefighters Decide Whose Life Matters. In Sociological Forum.
