A man has become clamped in a garbage press at a recycling station.
It soon becomes apparent that if extensive resources are not applied,
the man will die. At the same time an alarm comes in concerning a fire
at the hospital’s energy supply station. A power cut will affect many
people and put many people’s lives at risk. It quickly becomes apparent
that this incident also calls for extensive resources. What should be
done? Should the municipal structure for providing rescue services use
its resources to save one person now or several people later?
Because of, for example, group pressure, the group focus on the
clamped man and a heightened enthusiasm for his capacity, as
commander, to solve this problem, there are many complications in
making the decision.
(This example is taken from Svensson (2000), where the issues
involved are developed further.)
Example 6