The complexity of people

The complexity of people mearts that wearer trials remain the gold standard for ergonomic assessment however, they can be expensive to run and slow to provide repeatable data. This is good to finalise a new design, but not for the down-selection of candidate materials and garment constmctions. 

Figure 4.2 The acronym BASIC ID reflects the complexity of people and potential contributions to injury.

We need to understand a problem as completely as possible and from many perspectives before we can solve it. In this chapter, we explored dimensions of the safety problem by considering the complexity of people. I attempted to convince you that human nature does not usually support safety. The natural relationships between behavior and its motivating consequences usually result in some form of convenient, time-saving—and risky—behavior. Consequently, to achieve a Total Safety Culture, you should prepare for an ongoing fight with human nature. 

Auxiliary air cupboards have many problems, most of which have been reported in the literature. A main problem that does not receive much attention is coordination of the flow into the opening controlled by the exhaust with the supply flow directed down immediately above the opening. This includes the complex and simultaneous relationships between velocities, flow rates, flow widths, flow directions, flow stability, turbulence, and temperatures. To this should be added the same problems that exist for normal fume cupboards, such as necessary exhaust flow rate and velocity, flow pattern inside the cupboard, working procedures, and the influence of people on the flow pattern outside and into the opening. The auxiliary air outlet may also be a source of noise. 

Audits by definition are conducted on-site. An audit may be conducted using a variety of approaches and guides, but in general involves a team that gathers data through interviews, observation, and review of documentation. The team usually includes at least two people depending on the complexity of the facility or processes under review, tWs may expand to as many as five or more. 

Science is a quest for simplicity. Although the complexity of the world appears boundless, this complexity springs from an underlying simplicity that science attempts to discover. Chemistry s contribution to this quest is to show how everything around us—mountains, trees, people, computers, brains, concrete, oceans— is in fact made up of a handful of simple entities. 

It is clear that both atmospheric and surface dusts are complex materials and not all that easy to describe. A summary is given in Fig. 2 of the sources of atmospheric and surface dusts and their inter-connection. Both natural and anthropogenic sources contribute to both dusts. The inter-connection between the two dusts is wet and dry deposition from the atmosphere to the ground, and the re-entrainment of surface dust through wind and human activity into the atmosphere. Dust is an important global component of our earth, and impinges on the wellbeing of people. 

Many people who have experienced anaphylaxis in the community and are therefore at risk for recurrence have never received a prescription for an epinephrine autoinjector from an emergency department physician [38, 39] or from their primary care physician. Some of those who have received a prescription for an epinephrine autoinjector do not follow through and get it filled [40]. Even if they do get the epinephrine autoinjector dispensed, they may fail to carry it with them at all times [41]. Adherence to instructions to carry epinephrine can be improved with regular input from a healthcare professional [42] however, healthcare professionals need to master the complexities of epinephrine autoinjector use [43] before instructing others. People who have survived a mild anaphylaxis episode that was not treated at all, or was treated only with an antihistamine or an asthma puffer, sometimes fail to inject epinephrine because they erroneously assume that their subsequent reactions will also be mild [44]. 

The calculation of the fire s outcome in the third step includes the distribution of heat, smoke, and toxic gases throughout the building of concern. It allows the introduction of people into that building and monitors their movement in response to the fire. They may escape safely or fail to escape due to heat or the inhalation of toxic smoke. The benefits of changing some component of the defined fire problem is observed in the change in the number of deaths predicted, rather than by direct comparison of the toxic potencies of the different smokes. This mirrors the complexity of real-life fires. 

The number of individuals needed depends upon the complexity of the process and, to some extent, the stage at which the process is being evaluated. Normally, a PrHA using this method requires fewer people and shorter meetings than does a more structured method such as a HAZOP study. Estimates of the time needed to perform a PrHA using the what-if/ checklist analysis method are shown in Table 4.11. 

In summary, the reactions of people who, having been exposed to environmental chemicals, contract genetic disease or cancer are most complex. It is probably inappropriate to be satisfied with any of our present approximations they are gross, and some are demonstrably incorrect. They are, however, state-of-the-art, and constitute the only working models available to regulatory agencies and industry at the present time. 

Well-done qualitative studies bring human beings back into the research picture and, in so doing, have the potential to move readers profoundly. In a way that numbers rarely do, hearing people speak directly about the complexities of their lives allows readers to identify with... 

We come back now to the origin of life and the evolution of early cells. We have seen in the first chapters of this book the endeavor of people working with the aim of clarifying the pathway to the transition to life starting from simple molecules. This is the so-called bottom-up approach, the narrative by which a continuous and spontaneous increase of molecular complexity has transformed inanimate matter into the first self-reproducing entities, and from those, life at large. 

Innovation and change have tended to be thought of largely as the prerogative of those at the top of the organizational hierarchy. But the complexity of modern-day organizations and the rapidity of change mean that people at all levels now have opportunities to initiate improvements - indeed may need to if they care about success or survival, whether corporate or personal. 

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