But the Air Force contended that the accident rate at Titan II sites was lower than the rate at most American workplaces,
The consequences of an accident have to be considered along with the rate at which an accident happens.
If an accident causes a worker to break a leg, that might be a reasonable consequence for a 1:1,000 risk over a year. If the consequence is vaporizing a medium sized city of 300,000 people, a 1:1,000 risk has an expected value of 300 people vaporized per year.
