YOUR PERSONAL SAFETY
The world we live in today is much safer than the one known
by your parents and grandparents. Even considering the constant
bombardment of news to the contrary, the government and industry
have taken some major steps to protect us all. In almost everything
we do, we are surrounded by protection based on safety experience
from the past. You'll be safer - - but only if you have a strong
feeling for safety. Why? Because many of the safety factors
developed to protect you function only if you do something about
them. Do you buckle your seat belt every time you get in the
car? Do you cross the street at crosswalks instead of jaywalking?
Do you walk or jog on the left side of the road so that you
are facing oncoming traffic? These are just a few of the things
that you know and can do something about. We all must acknowledge
the fact that we bear some of the responsibility for making
our environment safe and safety is thinking about other people,
too. Because in this safety awareness, we can take steps to
help others. For instance, a jagged piece of metal and certain
types of broken bottles on the street can cause tire problems
to cars. Broken glass on the beach might also send someone to
the hospital for stitches. When you take time to clean up things
such as broken bottles, etc., you're taking a big step toward
protecting others. An accident is something that happens to
you and to others. It's easy to think that these accidents just
happen. Buy they don't. They're not just bad luck or bad breaks
that come to you out of nowhere. An accident is never supposed
to happen. It isn't planned and it isn't deliberate. Accidents
are caused! An accident can be caused by an unsafe condition.
Look at your automobile. It can be a typical example of an unsafe
condition. Bad brakes and unsafe tires, faulty headlights, loose
steering, and, yes, even dirty windshields and side windows
can cause accidents, and they are all unsafe conditions. And
along this same line, we need to consider unsafe acts as also
contributing to the cause of accidents. These are not "conditions."
They are what you, or someone else, does or doesn't do. A good
example is jaywalking. You know it's dangerous to walk out between
parked cars to cross the street, but it's easier than walking
down to the next corner. Both unsafe conditions and unsafe actions
exist, and either one can cause accidents. But you can put the
two together, as well. That car with the poor brakes, and all
the other unsafe conditions, isn't unsafe at all until someone
starts to use it. It's the act of using that causes the accident.
Oh sure, the car was at fault, but the driver of that car was
the ultimate cause of the accident. You will find many unsafe
conditions in your daily life, but most of them become truly
unsafe based on your own actions related to them. What causes
you to act in an unsafe way? Is it carelessness? Poor judgment,
were you at the wrong place at the wrong time? There's never
a total absence of risks in our lives. Risks are voluntary actions
and can be managed. Emergencies can be met and handled, but
it takes know-how and constant awareness. What you can't prevent,
you can usually compensate for or protect against. Safety experts
classify accidents in four broad categories: Motor vehicle,
work and job related, home, and public. The public category
excludes motor vehicle and work accidents in public places.
It covers sports and recreation (swimming, hunting, etc.), air,
water, or land transportation excluding motor vehicle and public
building accidents. On the average, there are 10 accidental
deaths and about 1,000 disabling injuries every hour during
the year. About one-half of the deaths occur in motor vehicle
accidents while about one-third of the injuries occur in and
around the home. It's not hard to imagine adding yourself to
the accident statistics. Any day of the week, you'll be swamped
with stories in the newspapers and on television about the many
tragic accidents going on all over the country and it seems
to be getting worse all the time. And in every case the victim
was somebody who did not plan or expect that they would be hurt
or killed. In a matter of seconds, everything you were ever
going to do and be can be snuffed out. At the least, you suffer
pain and inconvenience from an accident. At worst, an accident
kills or damages you for life. Safety saves you, but it does
more than that. Mix each safety ingredient with all of your
day to day activities. An use common sense in everything you
do. Safety in your home is a combination of mind and matter.
You mind must be constantly aware of the home safety dangers.
The matter is the safety condition of your home. The safety
condition of your home isn't a case of rebuilding things to
make it safe. It's more the disposal of dangerous items, and
a case of good housekeeping. A safe home has a place for everything,
and that along with the right mental attitude about keeping
those things in place is just good housekeeping. The home is
the most frequent place for injury accidents to occur, and it
is second only to motor vehicle accidents for the number of
deaths in the country today. Family members are busier than
ever rushing in and out so it's easy to understand how careless
mistakes are often made. When you read the daily newspaper or
watch newscasts on TV, you'll see that home accidents can be
classified in two major ways. There are things that can totally
disrupt your entire community - - such as earthquakes, tornadoes,
storms and floods. And then there are those kinds of accidents
that are centered in your own home, and not involving the whole
community. These are things like fires, local earth sliding,
flooding and wind damage. You will need to consider both types
when thinking about safety at home. For the community - wide
disasters, you may or may not receive any outside help for a
considerable period of time, and you must be prepared to survive
on your own home resources. With the second type, your home
may be destroyed, but some help should be there from the outside,
early in the experience. Most cities and communities have some
agencies and organizations in place to assist the public in
times of severe emergencies. It is wise for everyone to do a
home safety check on a regular basis and get the family members
involved. Naturally, every family needs to develop its own plan
because every house and every family is different.
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