How engineers assign a dollar value to human life
Engineering often requires a difficult trade-off between budget constraints and safety standards. This video explores the morbid yet necessary practice of using a conversion factor to compare financial costs against the value of human lives during decision-making.
In the field of engineering, professionals frequently face a tension between economic efficiency and public safety. To navigate these complex decisions, a conversion factor is sometimes employed to bridge the gap between two incomparable metrics: dollars and people. While the concept of putting a price on a human life sounds grim, it serves as a functional tool for making difficult, high-stakes decisions in infrastructure and design.
Source: How Much Is a Human Worth? (according to engineers)
