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A quantitative investigation of the peculiarities of fracture of the metal ahead ofnotch and sharp crack has been performed on a basis of the statistical model of microcracknucleation and growth in polycrystalline metal developed by author. These peculiarities areassociated with scale effect, influence of local plastic strain on fracture probability andeffect of triaxial tension on the value of the local fracture stress. It is shown that the influenceof local small plastic strain on the susceptibility of the fracture stress to a "processzone" volume is a specific feature of the scale effect in metal. The results show that there isa need to predict brittle fracture of notched specimens over a wide temperature region(from small-scale yielding to general yielding) to incorporate the effect of small plasticstrain. All these effects have been expressed in terms of Weibull parameters. It is shownthat these parameters aren't material constants, and they depend on the plastic strain andstress state ahead of a notch.