Self-study
The manager of a nuclear power plant defended the claim that the plant was safe by revealing its rate of injury for current workers: Support only 3.2 injuries per 200,000 hours of work, Support a rate less than half the national average for all industrial plants. ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ █████
Summarize Argument
The manager concludes that the nuclear plant is safer than most other plants where the plant’s employees could work, judging by the number of injuries. As evidence, the manager says that the nuclear plant’s rate of injuries for current workers is less than half the national average for industrial plants.
Notable Assumptions
Because the manager's conclusion is explicitly limited to just the number of injuries, the magnitude of each individual injury isn't important. However, the manager still assumes that the rate of injuries for current workers is representative of overall injuries. It could be that injuries appear later in life once employment has finished, or that injuries are under-reported.
3.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████
a
Workers at nuclear █████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ███ ██ █████ ███ ████████
We don’t know if this is true at other industrial plants, so it doesn't tell us anything about nuclear plants in comparison. It certainly doesn't weaken the claim that the nuclear plant is relatively safe.
b
Workers at nuclear █████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ██████████
This makes it less likely that injuries are under-reported, which if anything would further support the manager's argument, not call it into question.
c
The exposure of ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████████ █████
This suggests that nuclear power plant workers aren’t experiencing an additional health risk compared to other industrial plant workers. This definitely doesn't undermine the manager’s position.
d
Workers at nuclear █████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ █ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ███████████
We don't know anything about how often other industrial workers file lawsuits, or how the number of lawsuits relates to the number of injuries. Without more information, this is irrelevant.
e
Medical problems arising ████ ████ ██ █ ███████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████
While current employees at the plant don't report many injuries, they are more likely to suffer from medical problems after retiring. This indicates additional, hidden injuries that the manager doesn't account for, undermining the argument.