To the chorus of lamentations regarding "how can you put a value on a human life" more people need to understand that IS NOT what risk analysis does--but rather quantifies the value of a change in a probability (of for example premature mortality)--and that EVeRYONE does precisely that on a daily basis when they buy life insurance, car insurance, or health insurance.

Most troublesome is the lack of understanding of the basic aspects of risk--the general population doesn't seem to comprehend the difference between acute and chronic risks (i.e. high probability low impacts vs low probability high impacts)much less that risk reduction comes at a cost--which inherently increases risk somewhere else..

Every decision we make that involves our health, our safety, or the size of the estate we'll leave to our families and favorite charities when we die involves putting a value on human life. (Ie, multiply the value of my life by the probability of being killed in a car crash on the way to work, and measure it against the cost of getting fired for not showing up, and "go to work today" wins...it's a subconscious process, but it's "putting a value on human life" nevertheless.)

The fact that, in most of those decisions, the value is a question of opportunity cost and is thus usually not denominated in US Dollars does not change their basic nature.