Question

To protect his poultry from meteorites, the gentleman farmer made hard hats for each bird and installed a meteor detection system that opened umbrellas throughout the yard if a meteor were detected. The safety of his flock thus assured, the farmer was surprised when he read his latest issue of Risk Management Magazine and discovered that this event was:

a. High in consequence and high in probability.
b. Low in consequence and low in probability.
c. Low in probability and high in consequence.
d. High in probability and low in consequence.

Answer 1

Answer:

c. Low in probability and high in consequence.

Step-by-step explanation:

The event of being killed by a meteorite is estimated to be 1 in 1,600,000 (Nelson, S. 2004, according to National Geographic). It is a low probability event.

However, the consequences for the gentleman farmer would be very high in the sense that he could lose his poultry if this event were able to happen. In general, it would be high in consequence for anybody near this event.

So, this event is low in probability and high in consequence.