Whats in a Name

We call our approach to behavioral safety the values-based safety process. As you will design a process that meets the needs of your organization, your team may want to find a name that fits your organization s new process. Companies have called their safety improvement efforts the employee safety process (ESP), the safe acts process, the positive safety process, the continuous incident prevention process, and a variety of others. (See the discussion on the contest to name the behavioral safety process in Chapter 23 for suggestions on involving employees in selecting a name.) 

The inevitable implication of these observations is that adaptronics remains highly technical and culturally insular. This is surely not the intention. For adaptronics or even smart structures and materials to make its mark it must become understood as the vital enabler which it most definitely is within a community which extends far beyond its practitioners. Or should it really simply recognise that is a part of smart structures and materials and accede to popular demand Personally I remain unconvinced of the technological content of this latter term but we must acknowledge that it has gained some community currency and this is at least as important as the technology itself. Names, whether we wish it so otherwise, are important as communication aids. 

There have been countless attempts to define the subject area. With many others, I too have contributed to this intriguing, arguably futile, debate. I con- 

Of course any additional complexity in any of these systems implies inevitably additional cost. This additional cost is only tolerated if either, there is a demonstrable benefit to the customer within the timescale which is rele- 

GNP Agriculture Mining Manufactme Construction Communication Country ( B) % % % % % 

Even now it is far from impossible to cite some examples of both the risks of conservatism and the benefits stemming from the adventurous spirit. 

---