dramatic degradation,
2 the idea that everyone is part of planet earth or humanity,
little fear concerning the maintenance of one’s own physical integrity, etc. The
assessment of the degradation depends largely on its nature and how often it occurs
(which is often underplayed), and also on a sense of belonging, solidarity or
compassion that everyone feels towards the human and non-human victims of a
disaster.
People do not consider the hazards of the environment in which they live to be
responsible for the deterioration of their health so long as they believe that this
environment is clean and healthy. On the other hand, they will try to blame their
environment for their own physical deterioration. They highlight the phenomena
they consider to be true, although this may be difficult to justify scientifically.
Nobody would hold the environment directly responsible when a native species
is pushed out of its habitat by another species. Other reasons are highlighted, for
example, the imbalance of the environment due to detrimental human activities.
These examples give rise to several questions. The first concerns the cultural
emphasis given to the distinction between man and nature. The second concerns the
idea that we have of a healthy environment and how to recover if we judge it to be
degraded. The third concerns the anthropology and epistemology of science. What
degree of scientific validity do we attribute to causal relationships between environment and health?
Machinery can also be subject to degradation that does not necessarily create
human victims. While it is designed to withstand normal wear and tear, engineers
may replace the entire unit, or its parts, in order to avoid a breakdown or other
incident. Risk prevention policy terms this ‘preventive maintenance’ and the aim is
to identify the potential degradation of a piece of equipment and anticipate any
unwanted consequences. Preventive maintenance aims to maintain technical
equipment in a satisfactory state.
Preventive maintenance is defined as “maintenance that is carried out at predetermined intervals or according to prescribed criteria and intended to reduce the
probability of failure or degradation of the operation of a good” (extract from the
French standard NF EN 13306 X 60-319). It can also take the form of scheduled
maintenance, i.e. “preventive maintenance that is performed at predetermined time
intervals or according to a specified number of units of use but without any preliminary check of the condition of the equipment” (extract from the French standard
NF EN 13306 X 60-319), or conditional maintenance, which is defined as “preventive maintenance that is based on monitoring of the operation of the equipment
and/or important parameters for its operation including the actions that result from
it” (extract from the French standard NF EN 13306 X 60-319). The term ‘important
parameters’ refers to key indicators of the equipment’s condition. Finally,
preventive maintenance can also take the form of predictive maintenance,
2
Here we refer to a disaster rather than a catastrophe in order to respect the fact that the catastrophe
is primarily the result of an intellectual construction [6]. At the time of writing, no-one knows
whether the disaster will become a catastrophe.
Does the Concept of Loss Orient Risk Prevention Policy?
23
2 the idea that everyone is part of planet earth or humanity,
little fear concerning the maintenance of one’s own physical integrity, etc. The
assessment of the degradation depends largely on its nature and how often it occurs
(which is often underplayed), and also on a sense of belonging, solidarity or
compassion that everyone feels towards the human and non-human victims of a
disaster.
People do not consider the hazards of the environment in which they live to be
responsible for the deterioration of their health so long as they believe that this
environment is clean and healthy. On the other hand, they will try to blame their
environment for their own physical deterioration. They highlight the phenomena
they consider to be true, although this may be difficult to justify scientifically.
Nobody would hold the environment directly responsible when a native species
is pushed out of its habitat by another species. Other reasons are highlighted, for
example, the imbalance of the environment due to detrimental human activities.
These examples give rise to several questions. The first concerns the cultural
emphasis given to the distinction between man and nature. The second concerns the
idea that we have of a healthy environment and how to recover if we judge it to be
degraded. The third concerns the anthropology and epistemology of science. What
degree of scientific validity do we attribute to causal relationships between environment and health?
Machinery can also be subject to degradation that does not necessarily create
human victims. While it is designed to withstand normal wear and tear, engineers
may replace the entire unit, or its parts, in order to avoid a breakdown or other
incident. Risk prevention policy terms this ‘preventive maintenance’ and the aim is
to identify the potential degradation of a piece of equipment and anticipate any
unwanted consequences. Preventive maintenance aims to maintain technical
equipment in a satisfactory state.
Preventive maintenance is defined as “maintenance that is carried out at predetermined intervals or according to prescribed criteria and intended to reduce the
probability of failure or degradation of the operation of a good” (extract from the
French standard NF EN 13306 X 60-319). It can also take the form of scheduled
maintenance, i.e. “preventive maintenance that is performed at predetermined time
intervals or according to a specified number of units of use but without any preliminary check of the condition of the equipment” (extract from the French standard
NF EN 13306 X 60-319), or conditional maintenance, which is defined as “preventive maintenance that is based on monitoring of the operation of the equipment
and/or important parameters for its operation including the actions that result from
it” (extract from the French standard NF EN 13306 X 60-319). The term ‘important
parameters’ refers to key indicators of the equipment’s condition. Finally,
preventive maintenance can also take the form of predictive maintenance,
2
Here we refer to a disaster rather than a catastrophe in order to respect the fact that the catastrophe
is primarily the result of an intellectual construction [6]. At the time of writing, no-one knows
whether the disaster will become a catastrophe.
Does the Concept of Loss Orient Risk Prevention Policy?
23