You can only spend your money once.

A few years back, when I was attending a class about crisis management the professor stated that there are many people against putting a money aspect on a human life. However you can quantify the cost of measures to safe/extend human life and you can only spend your money once. A very important point of him.

With the limited amount of funds and the current budget cuts, there is a need to invest the money in measures which are the most cost effective in extending an health human life. This applies to all levels of safety organizations and emergency response; National, regional, local and even individual persons. These seems very logical, however it is not. Human perspective and simple statistics usually don't match. The media is playing a huge part in changing our perspective. If you are a professional in the safety or security field, you have fought the influence of perspective. Politicians are pushing organisations to prioritise differently.

Examples of the difference between perception and statistics are for instance crime and dangers of the modern world. In most western countries, crime was on the decrease and the average life expectancy has been rising. However the perspective is an increase in crime and having more risks to life.

This does not mean we should ignore current human perspective. Human perspective is an important factor, especially when dealing human emotions.  Balancing these things out is an on-going challenge.

When we apply this to our self’s, are we preparing for the most likely events or for our not always accurate perspective? Are we putting our money in the most cost effective ways to keep us safe and having a long healthy life?