What Is Safety

1
Chapter 1

• What Is Safety?

2
Safety Defined

• Safety is
• An ever-changing condition or state of being
  resulting from the modification of human
  behavior, and/or the design of the physical
  environment to reduce the possibility of hazards,
  thereby mitigating the risk of injury, illness,
  or property damage resulting from exposure to
  such hazards.

3
Accidents Defined

• Accidents are
• occurrences in a sequence of events which usually
  produce unintended injury, death, or property
  damage.
• Some, including the National Center for Injury
  Prevention and Control, as well as the National
  Safety Council, have adopted the terms
  unintentional or intentional injuries to reduce
  the public notion that accidents are random
  events over which we have little control.

4
Safety Defined

• Safety is
• An ever-changing condition or state of being
  resulting from the modification of human
  behavior, and/or the design of the physical
  environment to reduce the possibility of hazards,
  thereby mitigating the risk of injury, illness,
  or property damage resulting from exposure to
  such hazards.

5
Hazards Defined

• Hazards are
• A condition or set of conditions that have the
  potential to produce injury and/or property
  damage.
• Alone, they cannot produce injury.
• They need a stimulus to cause harm.

6
Hazards In Practice

• Think about your trip to school today.
• Think of a specific hazard that presented itself?
• What stimulus would have been necessary for this
  hazard to cause injury or damage?

7
Risk Defined

• Risk is
• The probability that a hazard will be activated
  and produce injury or property damage.
• Risk involves two components
• The likelihood that a negative situation will
  occur
• The severity of the injury or damage in the
  hazard is activated

8
Cause of Death Lifetime Odds

• Heart Disease 1-in-5
• Cancer 1-in-7
• Stroke 1-in-23
• Accidental Injury 1-in-36
• Motor Vehicle Accident 1-in-100
• Intentional Self-harm 1-in-121
• Falling Down 1-in-246
• Assault by Firearm 1-in-325
• Fire or Smoke 1-in-1,116
• Natural Forces 1-in-3,357
• Electrocution 1-in-5,000

• Drowning 1-in-8,942
• Air Travel Accident 1-in-20,000
• Flood 1-in-30,000
• Legal Execution 1-in-58,618
• Tornado 1-in-60,000
• Lightning Strike 1-in-83,930
• Venomous Bite or Sting 1-in-100,000
• Earthquake 1-in-131,890
• Dog Attack 1-in-147,717
• Asteroid Impact 1-in-200-500,000
• Tsunami 1-in-500,000
• Fireworks Discharge 1-in-615,488
• Source http//www.livescience.com (2007)

9
All Injury Deaths

• All injury deaths
• Number of deaths 164,002
• Deaths per 100,000 population 56.4
• All unintentional injury deaths
• Number of deaths 109,277
• Deaths per 100,000 population 37.6
• All suicides
• Number of deaths 31,484
• Deaths per 100,000 population 10.8
• All homicides
• Number of deaths 17,732
• Deaths per 100,000 population 6.1

• All motor vehicle traffic deaths
• Number of deaths 43,340
• Deaths per 100,000 population 14.9
• All firearm deaths
• Number of deaths 30,136
• Deaths per 100,000 population 10.4
• All poisoning deaths
• Number of deaths 28,700
• Deaths per 100,000 population 9.9
• Source CDC Deaths for 2003

10
Risk In Practice

• Think about the probability that a hazard will
  be activated and produce injury and select your
  risk of being injured or killed by something or
  participating in some activity.
• For next class, use the Internet to research the
  risk of this scenario actually happening.

11
Injury Defined

• Injury is
• Any kind of damage to the body resulting from a
  single exposure to some type of energy or force

12
Injury In Practice

• Consider an injury youve sustained.
• How did it become possible?
• How would you categorize it?
• How was it treated?

13
Illness Defined

• Illness is
• Damage to the body resulting from repeated
  exposures to some type of energy or force.

14
The Four Factors of Safety

• Factor 1 Understanding the difficulty of the
  activity
• Factor 2 The ability level of the performer
• Factor 3 The conditions of the environment
• Factor 4 The immediate state of the performer.

15
Classic Model of Epidemiological Disease

• Environmental Conditions
• (close quarters, lack of sanitation,
  illiteracy)
• Agent (viral particles)
• Vehicle (air toy) Vector (sick person)
• Host (susceptible person)
  Disease

16
Classic Model of Epidemiological Injury

• Environmental Conditions
• (slippery roads, dim lighting, evening)
• Agent (chemical, electrical, mechanical,
• thermal, radiant)
• Vehicle (car) Vector (other driver)
  Injury
• Host (driver)

17
Whats Different?

• How does the definition of safety presented here
  differ from the concept you had of safety prior
  to our discussion?
• What are some key concepts?