[ RadSafe ] Dollars per life saved

[Doug Aitken]

I guess this is relevant if the detectors are paid for out of taxpayers
money. But if the requirement is for individuals to pay, then we need to
look at the cost of enforcement and emergency response in the case of an
incident......

I would have thought that a publicity campaign advising of the risks and
leaving it to the individual to decide if $20.00 is worth spending to
potentially save the like of a family member would be a more sensible
response (and more in line with things like safety helmet laws, where the
potential risk is much higher and cost of emergency response/medical
treatment is very large yet many states do not make them mandatory...

My 0.02 only!
Regards
Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Joel C.
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 2:56 PM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Dollars per life saved

This value, dollars per life saved, used to be of interest in rad safety
regulations.  Today, I came across a new requirement in California for
carbon monoxide detectors in all homes.  (Hold your comments on our screwed
up state.)  The state Air Resources Board estimates 30 to 40 "avoidable
deaths" per year from CO overexposure.  Someone estimated the costs of the
requirement by multiplying the cost of a detector (about 20 bucks) with the
number of households in the state, and came up with $260 million.  That
doesn't include installation and is probably low.  In any event, the dollars
per life saved comes out to a minimum of $6.5 million.  I pass that on
without comment.


Joel 
joelc at alum.wpi.edu

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