R6. How Risk is Dealt With

R6.1 Risk provokes a number of different responses according to the factors referred to above. The respondents identified several means of dealing with it:

Ignoring it.
Taking set safety precautions often without thinking, then forgetting about it.
Minimise the risk by taking all possible safety precautions.
Weighing up the pro's and con's of pursuing an action, judging the degree of risk involved and making a balanced judgement as to whether or not an activity is safe.
Relying on other people's judgement.
Go against better judgement by succumbing to peer pressure.
Enjoying it.

R6.2 Ignoring Risk

Respondents talked about ignoring risk in three ways. Firstly, by simply not thinking through the consequences of their actions. Although usually attributed to younger children, most admitted to doing things 'without thinking', knowing in retrospect that they were potentially dangerous things to do.

"You don't always think about being safe even when you should. You just do things."
(M, 17-18)

"Being careful is basically just common sense. But sometimes we can all act as though we haven't got any."
(F, 16-17)

A second way to ignore risk is to take a 'it won't happen to me' attitude. At the back of your mind you are aware that crossing a road or going on a car journey could be dangerous, but because you do it so frequently without mishap you tend to forget about the risk.

With familiarity and successful repetition comes confidence, sometimes over confidence. It is tempting to take greater and greater risks, when crossing the road for example, assuming you will always be able to 'get away with it'.

The teachers and older students recognised that a false sense of safety is often when the danger is greatest.

"Safe can become dangerous when you become complacent. You lose awareness. You don't check things."
(Secondary Teachers)

Finally respondents talked about deliberately choosing to ignore the risks. This was particularly the smokers in the sample who, whilst knowing that smoking can ultimately cause severe illness and death, chose not to think about this but simply to enjoy their cigarettes.

They were able to do so largely because, as young people, death seems a long, long way off. Since the effects of smoking usually take hold in later life, most tended to rationalise their behaviour by saying they will have cut down or stopped before then. Others merely adopted the bravado stance that you've got to die of something so you may as well get enjoyment on the way. This is a position which most can only hold when death does not appear to be a real prospect.

"I don't worry about cancer; I'm only young."
(M, 15-16)

R6.3 Taking Limited Safety Precautions

Many routine activities which carry a small degree of risk are treated in this way. Certain easy safety precautions are taken, for example, putting on a safety helmet, a seat belt, smoking low tar cigarettes or checking your hands are dry before touching a plug. Other safety precautions could sometimes be taken but these are seen to be unwarranted given the low level or risk involved and/or the inhibiting influence they would have on the activity itself.

R6.4 Minimise the Risk as far as Possible by Maximising your Control of the Situation

This is seen to be the sensible way to respond to activities which involve a relatively high degree of risk and/or where there would be very serious consequences should something go wrong, but where the benefits of the activity are desirable. It involves trying to cater for all potential occurrences, so that should a problem occur you are prepared for it.

Teachers saw school safety in these terms. They felt most exposed to risk when on school trips where the environment is less familiar, where unforeseen events could occur, and where it is more difficult to effectively cater for the unknown.

Students talked about this mainly when referring to various sporting activities but realised that the response can easily be applied to other situations.

For them risk management included:

be well trained, know what you are doing;
use the right equipment and protection;
practice, know your capabilities and don't go beyond them;
have a knowledgeable, reliable person to hand to help if necessary;
keep alert for potential problems at all times;

Whilst most students were able to think constructively about risk management, the least able were not able to do so.

Others, whilst knowing the theory, admitted to rarely putting it into practice. Human nature, they felt, encourages complacency wherever the danger is not immediate or obvious.

"It's all too easy to become over confident, complacent. That's when something's most likely to go wrong. You're not alert."
(M, 17-18)

R6.5 Making a Balanced Judgement whether or not to take the Risk

Students talked about having consciously to make such decisions on those occasions where they were actually concerned about the risks involved, but felt the potential end-benefits of the proposed activity were appealing.

However, the 'balancing' may not only use purely rational, factual criteria. Perception is everything. For example, a fairly hazardous activity may seem to be safe if everyone else is doing it. Alternatively, a tiny risk may cause undue concern because of the nature of the publicity that surrounds it.

The BSE scare was taken as an example of this. When the announcement was first made, most respondents stopped eating beef; however as press interest died down and they started to miss beef they paid more attention to information and views that, although available previously, had been ignored.

Equally, the more one wants to pursue an activity the more one is likely to have an optimistic perception.

R6.6 Relying on the Judgement of Others

Younger children in particular relied on their parents to judge whether an activity is sufficiently safe for them. For example, whether it is safe to cycle on the road or to play on a new piece of equipment at the park.

Older children were more self-reliant but tended to trust the judgement of trusted, more knowledgeable people in unfamiliar situations.

"They wouldn't let us do it unless it was safe."
(M, 15-16)

R6.7 Succumbing to Peer Pressure

Peer acceptance is very important for young people. Not to join in an activity that others are seemingly happily indulging in it is to risk peer rejection.

Such is the pressure to conform to peer norms that many students readily admitted to going against their instincts and/or better judgement and doing something that they would rather not have done for fear of the risk involved. Smoking was the most frequent example. Cycling on busy roads and going on a scary fair-ground ride were also frequently mentioned.

R6.8 Enjoying It

Many respondents, especially the boys, admitted to getting a 'buzz' out of taking some risks. It adds excitement to life and can add to their sense of masculine prowess.

"I think climbing is quite dangerous. But it is the danger that keeps me going, it's what I enjoy."
(M, 17-18)

"Sometimes risk wills you on, you get a buzz like with joy-riding."
(M, 15-16)

"I like dangerous things... they're fun."
(M, 9-10)

Where to draw the line between acceptable and non-acceptable enjoyable risks is, of course, down to the judgement and personality of the individual. However, in-group observation and teacher opinion suggests that the less able children are those most likely to push the boundary too far, simply by not judging and responding to the risk sensibly.