Zero tolerance approach

The panda joke (table 1.3), adapted from a bestselling book entitled Eats, Shoots Leaves The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation (Truss, 2003), illustrates the importance of correct punctuation (specifically, the troublesome comma). How should the punch line be punctuated in the panda joke to provide a proper dehnition of a panda Here is what we recommend ... 

Truss, L. Eats, Shoots Leaves The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation Gotham Books New York, 2003. 

The zero tolerance approach for pesticides in drinking water... 

Therefore, irrespective of the desirability of the EU zero tolerance approach, its implementation has clearly been problematic. The proper implementation of the basic objectives of the EU regulatory strategy must be carefully considered, so that the important environmental objectives maybe attained. 

According to Caminiti, UMEC s experience proves that strong fall protection programs and a strong safety culture are a solid business investment. After our last fall, UMEC took a zero tolerance approach to fall protection, he says. It s paid off in nearly six years without a lost-time injury, three with zero reportable injuries — and the three most profitable years in our 80-year history. Top employees want to work for us... 

Pharmaceutical manufacturing operations are inefficient and costly. The cost of low efficiency is generally not understood or appreciated (e.g., manufacturing costs far exceed those for research and development operations). Low efficiency is predominantly due to self-imposed constraints in the system (e.g., static manufacturing processes, focus on testing as opposed to quality by design, approach to specifications based on discrete or the so called zero tolerance criteria, a less than optimal understanding of variability, etc.). These constraints keep the system in a corrective action mode. 

Former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey attempted to find creative anti-drug school-based programs. Critics have questioned the effectiveness of approaches like zero tolerance, which prohibit a well-rounded drug education for students. 

Although this prevention approach was incorporated into some educational materials for a short time, it was abandoned in the early 1980s during President Ronald Reagan s campaign of Just Say No to drugs. Since then, zero tolerance has been the predominant educational anti-drug approach in American classrooms. 

If a zero tolerance is mandated, then there is no need for toxicity testing. Only the techniques of analytical chemistry need be applied to determine whether a substance is present or not, and therefore, whether its use is permissible or not. Such an approach however, runs the risk of becoming a reductio ad absur-dum, as analytical techniques become more refined and sensitive. 

A completely different approach is followed by the EU for the management of xenobiotics in drinking water and, in particular, of pesticides. The EU has applied a policy of zero tolerance toward the presence of pesticides in drinking water since 1980. At that time it adopted a policy establishing the maximum acceptable level of pesticides in drinking water at the concentration of 0.1 (xg/1 in Directive 80/778/EEC (EEC Council Directive, 1980). This is taken as a practically zero level of tolerance, considering the analytical detection limit for most pesticides at the time of promulgation of the Directive. 

The model implies that attitude and behaviour are linked such as to influence and reinforce each otiier. Psychologists began to look at behaviour as a subject itself rather titan as merely an indicator of internal states of mind (i.e. attitudes) following early work by Skinner. This approach has led to behavioural analysis and behavioural modification. By focusing on behaviours, accidents can be prevented. In turn this reinforces an attitude toward a safe work environment and a culture of zero tolerance. 

Abstract. Autonomous systems operating in the vicinity of humans are critical in that they potentially harm humans. As the complexity of autonomous system software makes the zero-fault objective hardly attainable, we adopt a fault-tolerance approach. We consider a separate safety channel, called a monitor, that is able to partially observe the system and to trigger safety-ensuring actuations. A systematic process for specifying a safety monitor is presented. Hazards are formally modeled, based on a risk analysis of the monitored system. A model-checker is used to synthesize monitor behavior rules that ensure the safety of the monitored system. Potentially excessive limitation of system functionality due to presence of the safety monitor is addressed through the notion of permissiveness. Tools have been developed to assist the process. 

---