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Litcham School’s spring production is reinvented amid new Covid-19 safety measures
By: Sophia Simoes
Tags: Restrictions, Arts And Culture, Covid 19, Schools, Safety

News Story & accompanying 2min Video

Published: 1:30 PM November, 16 2020

Litcham School is planning a COVID-safe production. Credit: Sophia Simoes

Litcham School, in Norfolk is reinventing its annual spring production after Ofsted reports showed that many secondary schools had restricted the provision of ‘arts’ subjects to follow tighter Covid-19 safety measures.

Head of the Music Department, Ian McEvansoneya, has directed and composed Litcham’s productions every year.

He said: “At the minute, our plan is to create something that we can rehearse and produce in sections, with each year group doing one section. That way they can be isolated from each other. “But at the same time, I don’t want something which is going to be so restricted that actually the children get fed up with it or disheartened by it.”

Practical subjects like music are being taught differently across secondary schools in the UK. Credit: Sophia Simoes

The reports published last week found that some schools had suspended singing and instrumental work in music lessons.

Others had limited access to specialist teaching areas so that pupils in key stage 4 and 5 ‘bubbles’ had priority.

Following the recent controversy over career prospects in the arts, Litcham’s Headteacher, Robert Martlew, said the school has deliberately kept these subjects in the curriculum.

He said: “We want children to be able to look back at their time at school with a fondness and have a real affinity to the school, and part of that is about being involved with key extra-curricular activities throughout the year such as the production.”

Litcham hopes the production will make school life feel more ‘normal’.

The show is a tradition that pupils at Litcham look forward to each year and around 60 of them get involved both on and off-stage

Parent Governor, Sarah White, said the school values the academic and social benefits that extracurricular productions have on schoolchildren.

Litcham School leaders say the production will help increase social interaction among students. Credit: Sophia Simoes

She added: “These activities allow students to develop a wider range of skills, both practical and personal that build on, and are additional to, those learnt in lessons. “Not being in the school environment and having access to these extracurriculars slows development of real social interaction, confidence and associated skills.”

Litcham staff are still exploring ways to continue teaching the ‘arts’ subjects safely and are hopeful that the show will go ahead in the new year.
What is HAVS Assessment?
By: Orbis Environmental
Tags: Havs Assessment, Workers, Hand Arm Vibration, Industry, Safety

HAVS stands for Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome, and it occurs in employees working with hand-held powered equipment with heavy vibrations.

According to the latest statistics published by HSE, nearly 2 million people in the UK are at the risk of developing HAVS syndrome.

Some of the most common symptoms of HAVS are vascular and sensorineural in hands and fingers. The more exposure to the heavy machinery vibration, the more chances of developing severe symptoms of HAVS.

The good thing is that HAVS can be prevented and controlled by conducting appropriate assessments at regular periods. HAVS Risk Assessment is greatly helpful in order to make it “Better safe than sorry.”

In this blog, we have discussed all the stages of HAVS development and how a HAVS Risk Assessment can help in preventing these stages further.

In simple words, HAVS Assessment supports the business in finding out the power tools and processes causing hand vibrations and examines the risk exposure of each employee at the workplace. After thoroughly examining the situation, the HAVS Assessor guides you for needful further steps.

One should not ignore the primary symptoms of HAVS as prolonged and regular exposure of vibration not only pose a threat to the health of your employees; it also lasts for a lifetime.

For More Visit: https://orbisenvironmental.com/what-is-a-havs-assessment-what-are-the-symptoms-of-havs/
Safety Innovations During COVID-19
Tags: Covid 19, Scooters, Safety

Micromobility gives people a safe, socially-distant way to get around at a time when rideshare and public transportation can carry more risk.

Working closely with our city partners, we’ve filled in gaps and helped meet the needs of residents as transportation patterns have changed under stay-at-home orders.

In addition to adjusting deployment zones, here are some of the innovations and initiatives we’re leading to help keep our communities safe during COVID-19.

Cleaner Hands and Safer Streets:

PPE Vending Machines: Vengo, headquartered in New York City, has a network of digital, touchless vending machines, with more than 430 locations in all five NYC boroughs. Many of their kiosks currently distribute Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) within MTA subway stations. Spin is working with Vengo to provide free masks and hand sanitizer to promote safe transportation during the pandemic.

Antimicrobial Grips: Our upgraded hand grips provide a safer and cleaner experience for riders. The new hand grips, embedded with zinc oxide particles, are effective in protecting against 99.99% of tested pathogens. Scooters in Miami, FL; Coral Gables, FL; and Chicago, IL are equipped with these new grips and we’re soon rolling them out in Tampa, FL; Essex and Milton Keynes, UK.

Spin Destinations Feature: To keep riders safer on the road, our updated Destinations feature lets riders identify the bike lanes along their journeys toward their destinations.
Ohio State Highway Patrol unveils new work zone dashboard
By: Jaden Jefferson
Tags: News, Traffic, Construction, Local, Safety

Ohio State Highway Patrol unveils new work zone dashboard

Red and black lane closed signage on road. (Via Pixabay)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In an effort to curb work zone crashes and further empower the public, the Ohio State Highway Patrol has released a new dashboard devoted to work zone safety. The work zone dashboard is a detailed view of work zones across Ohio, and the important work that troopers around the state are doing to make them safer.

The brand new dashboard is a part of the Ohio Statistics and Analytics for Traffic Safety, a series of internal and public-facing dashboards dedicated to exploration, analysis, and visualization of crash data across Ohio. Users of the newest public-facing work zone dashboard have the ability to filter data and find the exact statistics they’re looking for, while also getting a front seat view of what our troopers do every day in Ohio’s work zones. Users of the dashboard have the ability to look at their own counties and routes, providing flexibility for them to get the exact data they want. An interactive map on the dashboard plots high-priority work zones throughout the state, as well as videos of troopers enforcing work zone violations.

“Ohio’s work zones are a top priority for the patrol, making sure that everyone has a safe driving and working environment,” said Colonel Richard S. Fambro, Patrol superintendent. “Troopers are committed to making work zones safer through focused enforcement and taking dangerous drivers off the road.”

Troopers on the ground are also assisted by troopers in the air from the patrol’s aviation section. Throughout Ohio’s construction season, the patrol’s aviation section has been utilized by focusing on dangerous speeds and distracted driving in work zones. The patrol is dedicated to using every available resource to make these zones safer, making sure everyone gets to their destination safely.

Since 2015, there have been over 32,500 crashes in Ohio work zones, with 114 of them killing 126 people. During the same timeframe, troopers have issued over 72,500 citations, with 34% of those being for driving 20 mph or more over the posted speed limit. As holiday travel continues, safety for everyone driving through and working in work zones will be an important focus for the patrol. Motorists are reminded to follow speed limits, always buckle up, maintain safe following distance, and never drive impaired or distracted.
The Creation Of A Superhero
Tags: Travel Safety, Superhero, Covid 19, Vacation, Safety

Hey everyone! I’m WePa, the superhero who makes it safer for all to enjoy their vacation, and this is my story…

It all started in September 2020, the WePlann team carried out a research project with the goal of speaking with 20+ customers per day for an initial two week period and find out two main things:

How their customers were feeling about travel What specific needs customers had to feel safe to enjoy travel activities again.

You can check out the results of this research here, but one of the conclusions they got was that safety measures are a big part of the pandemic travel experience.

With that in mind, they were driven to make better decisions, one of them was the creation of their own superhero! 🦸‍♀️ to help create awareness among tourists and travel activity operators around the importance of safety in a new world.

I’m the superhero who makes it safer for all to enjoy their vacation #safety4all

So, the team started brainstorming about how I would look, my personality, my goals, where I would appear on the website, among other details.

The first decision was that I would be a “living” representation that WePlann is committed to creating awareness of critical safety information to travelers.

They had countless versions in the design aspect, trying to make me come alive and also making sure that my looks would get their message across. All details were discussed: eye format, poses, uniform, colors, accessories, and so one.

The decision making was not defined by WePlann’s team only, they actually ran polls on their personal instagram accounts to get user feedback.

So, they got the opinion of Brazilians, Colombians and Americans.

The features of a superhero

Learn a little bit more about my features:

Braids: Representing the Latin touch we all know and love. The majority of WePlann’s customers (and team) are composed of Latin Americans so we could not miss a Latin vibe.

Mask: My mask is a statement accessory piece. It’s connected to my commitment to create awareness of critical safety information to travelers.

Colors: Orange is a vibrant color full of energy, it portrays cheer, and stimulates creativity. The color blue symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, intelligence, and truth.

Name: They wanted to make my name short, easy to pronounce and meaningful. Then they came up with WePa.

Wepa is a versatile Latin-American Spanish slang exclamation used to express excitement, congratulations, and joy, similar to the English “Oh yeah!”, “Wow!”, or “That’s awesome!”

And then there is the “W” and“P” in my name, relating to WePlann. That was a nice coincidence for them.

The result of all of this research and hard work: to bring a clear reference to all Covid related safety information and also bring joy to our customers (I’m also quite popular between the infant consumers, which is a plus 😂)

That’s the story behind my creation, I hope you all enjoyed it 😊.

If you’d like you can also follow me on Twitter to get updated safety information.
Why preparing for winter driving is important
By: Darren Gaspar
Tags: Winter, Seasons, Snow, Driving, Safety

The longest season of the year is here and we need to make sure that we get to our destination safely. Adjustments have to be made when it comes to winter driving as roads are slippery due to the snowy weather. In this week’s blog, we are going to cover how to prepare your vehicle, what items you should bring, and what you should do if you ever get stranded in the snow. Supported by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety (CCOHS), we will talk about why preparing for winter driving is important.

Preparing your vehicle during winter

Keeping your vehicle maintained and ready for the winter is key to avoiding disaster while driving in the cold. You need to make sure that your electrical system such as the battery, ignition, and all of your lights are not weak or damaged. Your tires and breaks should also be responsive to the slippery roads to avoid accidents. Investing in winter tires makes a huge difference as they provide excellent traction compared to all-season tires. Keep track of your tires’ air pressure. You can locate your recommended air pressure (PSI — pounds per square inch) on your tires. You can also check your vehicle’s manual as tire pressure may vary from vehicle to vehicle. Low tire pressure could lead to increased break time, a decrease in tire lifespan, and poor fuel economy. Warming up your vehicle BEFORE driving is also important to reduce moisture condensation on the inside of the windows and for visibility purposes.

Winter Tires

Items to bring in case of an emergency

Having a few essential items also contributes to the subject of why preparing for winter driving is important. For the most part, you should have an emergency road kit, a snow shovel, and an ice-scraper. Check the weather before heading out and prepare to wear the right layer of clothing. Taking a safety blanket or carrying an extra power bank can come a long way if you’re stranded and can’t get to your destination. Bags of sand or salt may also help with your tires’ traction if you ever get stuck on deep snow.

Winter Essentials

If you ever get stuck or stranded…

Do not panic! Stay inside your car if you can’t shovel the snow, especially in blizzard conditions. If you happen to drive off a ditch, be sure to call assistance right away. To conserve fuel, run your car every 10 mins for warmth, but be sure to open the windows slightly. This could prevent carbon monoxide (odorless, colourless, tasteless gas) build-up, which could lead to tissue damage or death. Be sure to monitor signs of hypothermia or frostbite and most importantly, stay warm.

I think we can all relate that winter driving can be a big adjustment for a lot of people. Why not help your clients and employees stay safe during the snowy weather? Here at MOBO, we can help you pick out the best winter safety essentials that fit your budget. — Team MOBO
Set boundaries with your family
By: Natasha Sniehirova
Tags: Setting Boundaries, Boundaries, Family, Acceptance, Safety

Family does not always equal loyalty or unconditional support. Sometimes they can be your biggest weights holding you down, if you know what I mean.

And sometimes they say things like ‘family is everything’ and ‘we are blood related’ just in an effort to make you forgive them for their unforgivable actions.

So I just want to remind you that you don’t have to accept mistreatment from people because ‘he’s your dad’ or because ‘mama knows best’.

And also you don’t have to stay in unhealthy relationships with people because of ‘our shared history’. You don’t owe them the rest of you life!

I didn’t win the parent lottery in life. So I needed to learn how to set boundaries and don’t feel guilty or shame for protecting them. It was hard, but it was the right kind of hard.

And I don’t mean that setting boundaries with family has to be a binary: either I’m in touch with my family or I have cut them out completely. Craft boundaries that keep you safe and yet allow for the kind of connection that feels right to you.

If anyone has experience on this topic please do send me a dm or share your response with our community:

Have you always had an amazing relationship with your family or did you ever set boundaries?
5 of the Best (and Free) Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season
By: Adam Fincik
Tags: Giving, Philanthropy, Holidays, Safety

The holiday season is a time of generosity. We get gifts for our loved ones and plan extravagant meals. We may do a little something extra for our neighbors, mail delivery person, and other people who make our lives better. This year, though, demonstrating our generosity is a bit more challenging, but you can still show the world this valuable and much-needed trait. Here are five of the best and free ways to give back this holiday season.

1. Start at Home

Everything is centered around your home this year, and the holiday season is a great time to go above and beyond. Rather than being generous with your money, be generous with your time. This is what makes memories that are cherished for years to come. Plan special activities for your family, whether they are in your home or far away. Bake and decorate cookies with your children. Play board games with family outside your home with technology. Leave baked goods on your neighbor’s doorstep.

2. Donate Your Flight Miles

You may be traveling less right now, so put your flight miles to good use. Make-A-Wish accepts donations of flight miles that are used for fulfilling the wishes of children. The Wishes in Flight program uses the miles to purchase flights for granting children’s wishes.

3. Get Crafty

Do you knit or sew? Put your talents to work and make something for those in need or as a special gift for people who are working over the holidays, as well as homeless shelters and nursing homes. A lot of people are isolated this holiday season, and they will appreciate your gifts more now than ever.

4. Give to Food Banks

More people are in need of food this holiday season than ever before. This is a great time to go through your cupboards and pantry to find items that you don’t need. Think about how to combine items for food baskets, such as baking ingredients with your favorite recipe. Anything that you can give this holiday season will be put to good use.

5. Donate Holiday Decorations

Many of us have far more holiday decorations than we will ever use. Go through your items and set aside ones that you are willing to donate. Check with local charities to find drop locations or ways to get the items to families who may have little this holiday season. This is one of the best ways to give back this holiday season and for many more to come.
What you should look for if venturing out to a night club during the COVID crisis.
By: Bill Myers
Tags: Nightlife, Short Story, Dancing, Covid 19, Safety

What you should look for if venturing out to a night club during the COVID crisis. I feel much safer going to City Fire than a Trump rally!

Trump rallies: people shoulder-to-shoulder, no masks.

Orlando closed two clubs. Patrons were crushed together.

City Fire handled the virus well from the start and continues today:

They added UV in the vents to kill the virus, aren’t as crowded as before COVID, and dancers ensure the dance floor has spacing, no collisions. Employees wear masks. Tables aren’t close together.

People feel safe.
What’s the Point of Rules?
Tags: Shipping, Equality, Professionalism, Rules, Safety

I’m a seafarer. Rules dictate my every move on board ship. We have rules about rest, food, safety, clothes, training, and work. We are told to follow rules, told off for not following rules, reminded of rules we’ve forgotten, and constantly informed of new, updated and “improved” rules. It’s incredibly easy to forget that the rules are the means, not the end.

Fireman holding hose during the day, from Pexels.com

Most rules fall into one or more categories:

Safety rules (don’t walk under the crane);

Laws (keep appropriate records);

Social rules (don’t slam the doors in the accommodation, people might be sleeping);

Rules to enforce the on-board hierarchy (the chair next to the radar is the captain’s); and

Traditional Rules (the 4-on, 8-off watch system)

When we enforce rules, no matter what they are, we can misuse the act of enforcement to achieve a different end. We do not intend most rules to establish or enforce the on-board hierarchy. We definitely don’t intend them as a tool for bullying or harassment.

Firefighter relaxing. From Pexels.com

A crew member stands for a moment in the shade, under shelter, in a safe area, and takes their hardhat off for a moment to enjoy the breeze. If I order them to put their hardhat back on right now, will it improve safety? Or will it just prove that I’m higher than them in the pecking order?

Unfair, unequal or unreasonable enforcement of rules leads to friction on board. Not enforcing rules at all can lead to serious consequences when things go wrong. Each of us has to decide where we draw the line.

If I order them to put their hardhat back on right now, will it improve safety, or will it just prove that I’m higher than them in the pecking order?

No rule can cover all situations, and at sea we have so many rules that occasional clashes are inevitable.

When faced with contradictory rules, I ask myself two questions:

What’s the worst that can happen? and

If the worst happens, can I justify this decision?

“I didn’t give way because my captain told me to stay on the course line,” is not a good explanation for running into another ship. Similarly, if one of my crew dies after being hit in the head by a falling lump of steel, I never want to explain to a court, “They had a headache, so I told them they didn’t have to wear their hardhat that day.”

On the other hand, “I exceeded my hours of work because we were trying to put the fire out,” is a perfectly reasonable, rational explanation.

There are a few factors I consider when I decide which rules to follow or enforce in a given situation:

Am I trying to achieve the intent of the rule, or to prove that I have more power or authority than the other person?

Would I approach this the same way if I was dealing with a more senior crew member?

Which rule is more important in this situation? Is there is a justifiable reason to break one of the rules?

The answers to those questions help me determine what to do. Because, despite what we’re often told, blind obedience to “the people in charge” isn’t always the right choice.
COVID & Safe Socializing. A 5 minute COVID “safety checklist”…
By: Vytality Health
Tags: Coronavirus, Dating, Relationships, Covid 19, Safety

A 5 minute COVID “safety checklist” keeps socializing safer.

By Minda Aguhob, Vytality Health

This month I realized the safety checklist is useful for keep dating safe during COVID and this second lethal holiday wave.

In the late ’00s I spent 4 years researching safety checklists in a Brooklyn hospital. Airline pilots and their safety prep checklists drastically curbed the number of airline crashes in the 1980s after they became the industry standard. Brooklyn surgeons were finding they could use a safety checklist, too. As much as they hated using it, the surgical safety checklist kept their patients safer and has become a standard hospital process.

This month I realized the safety checklist is useful for keep socializing safe during COVID and this second lethal holiday wave. For example, I hadn’t dated all year long because of COVID. My “first” first date of 2020 in real life was on December 7. I only assented to this date because frankly, he was awesome. But I knew that if this were to continue, we needed some structure to stay safe.

By the way, I don’t encourage socializing during the holidays. It’s safer to isolate. But I also know human nature — people are going to be out, especially after such a long and repetitive set of lockdowns. We must have some way to reduce harm. Harm reduction is a health idea from addiction research that acknowledges yes, there is a risk of harm, but there are ways to mitigate it.

About the Harm Reduction health model: While reading this Psychology Today article, replace the words alcohol, drugs and substances with “need to socialize during COVID.”
How to adopt a healthy lifestyle to restrain coronavirus?
Tags: Blogger, Healthcare, Safety

here are some tips for eating during stressful times really important that we seal our body with the food that it needs throughout the day to keep ourselves from getting too hungry to keep ourselves from getting too snacky let’s make sure that we’re eating three balanced meals a day when we do want to snack let’s put that snack in a bowl or on a plate and find a place to enjoy that it’s not in front of our computer screen so it’s very likely that when we’re working from home we turn the day into an endless grazing session and we end up eating a lot more snacks than we normally would have for at work so when we need those snacks let’s make sure that we play on that snack out we build a healthy snack with some protein some complex carbohydrates and sit down and really enjoy that the other thing we want to make sure is that we’re setting up our new work environment for eating success research shows us that we are 30% more likely to eat what we see first that means we want to put the chips in the candy in the cupboard behind other foods so that we have to remember and we want to put something healthier if we want ourselves to eat one pound like a fruit bowl or maybe some veggies that are cut up in the front of our refrigerator someone we open that refrigerator that’s what we see first and that’s what we’re enjoying first another important tip is that we made sure that we keep food out of arms reach research shows us that we are three times more likely to eat some things that we can reach with our manners the other thing that can help us is eating out of smaller bowls off smaller plates and even using smaller spoons some research shows that we eat 50 percent less ice cream if we use a smaller spoon and a smaller bowl and last but not least if none of this seems to work we’re still feeling stressed let’s change our environment completely and go outside and go for a walk get some pressure so let’s use those tips to help us enjoy the things that you want to eat lower at home but not over indulge
Don’t get the offered vaccine.
By: Michael David Sy
Tags: Philippines, Vaccines, Safety, Covid 19

This is taken from Bloomberg.

Last September, Reuters published a report regarding Duterte’s disapproval of reserving vaccines from “Western countries.” He hesitated from choosing to reserve doses of the vaccine, instead opting for China because “[t]he one good thing about China is that you do not have to beg, you do not have to plead … one thing wrong about the Western countries, it’s all profit, profit, profit.”

Vaccine production needs money, because experimentation and research need money. While it is also about profit, I don’t think these countries can be blamed for making sure, because that is the nature of business. Many other countries all over the world had made their reservations. The vaccine business functions like any good restaurant: people who have made their paid reservations are the ones who are prioritized for the available seats.



As a result, we have staked our lives on the safety of a vaccine with a questionable history, Sinovac. No less than the Washington Post has described its colorful history with bribery and corruption. As a medical doctor, do I trust a company with such a spotty history?

The simple answer is “no.”

I would recommend people to be inoculated with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, but unless there are more robust studies from Gamaleya or Sinovac, people should avoid being injected with those vaccines. We have already lost our chance with procuring the better vaccines because our leader is a troglodyte who has failed to grasp the basic nature of economics and business.

My projections for 2021 isn’t as positive as many people, but it’s rooted in cautious realism. Outside securing 2.6 million doses from AstraZeneca, all we have are negotiations to secure vaccines from Sinovac. Let’s not forget that the government is prone to blind optimism. Experts, however, are a lot more wary about their projections. I’m personally hoping that wider vaccination drives of more reputable vaccines will get to start by early 2022.

My advice is to focus on the health regulations we have practiced to protect ourselves for this year. Let’s wear masks (surgical or N95), avoid touching our face, practice social distancing, and also wear face shields or facial protection whenever we do go out of our homes.
All I want for Christmas is my sense of security back…
By: Melissa A. Matthews
Tags: Security, Crime, Nonfiction, Narrative, Safety

All I want for Christmas is my sense of security back…

As we sat waiting for the police to come and survey “the scene” — our apartment — my partner admitted that the dream that’d been keeping him up for the last few days involved a home burglary. His premonition involved a violent confrontation. Perhaps, that aspect of his dream was more of a metaphorical conflict between the versions of us that felt completely safe and secure in our apartment of 4.5 years and the people who awoken to find a thief in their most private space?
Living Room Swan Dive
By: Devon Berry
Tags: Leadership, People, Development, Organizational Culture, Safety

If you are a leader who has intentionally fostered psychological safety in your workplace, cultivated the allure of grand challenges, and invested in the deep development of your people’s potential, all while remaining tenaciously on-mission, then you’ll see a video like this and smile. It resonates with something you’ve observed first hand in those you serve and you revel in it!

Meet my son, Theo. A wonderfully typical 9-year-old mid-elementary schoolboy. He knows the physical properties of a bean bag (safe), continually explores the limits of his abilities for the joy of the experience itself (challenge), and enjoys unlimited time to practice amateur tumbling (development). He’s committed to the never-ending pursuit of raw fun (mission). He is the simplified mini-prototype of an employee that is in a healthy work environment.

If you have not been exposed to this kind of an environment as a leader, then you’ll be more likely to see this video and say, “What was the point of that?” or “Ouch! Did he hurt his back?” or “I’m sure glad he didn’t miss the bean bag!” And you’ll worry about whether or not such a feat should be attempted again. If you find yourself in the “react” versus “revel” crowd, take time to reflect. As 2020 winds its way to an end, we can all acknowledge that there were a tremendous number of things well out of our control. However, there were also a number of things in our control — and the kind of work enviroment we create as a leader is one of them. Consider what you can do differently as a leader this next year to foster a workplace marked by more safety, more challenge, more development, more mission, and yes, more living room swan dives.

An earlier version of this post can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/devonmberry_this-is-what-people-who-feel-safe-challenged-activity-6742881679465181184-ROmG
Saving the stressful city environment by a safer electric scooter experience
By: Robin Liksor
Tags: Electric Scooters, Future, Reporting, Safety

This gave us a lot of useful information. What we found was that:

Age doesn't have a big importance on how people use e-scooters.

The amount of experience doesn’t influence how people use e-scooters.

People who use e-scooters mostly for fun or as a tool don’t have problems with them because they serve a purpose for these individuals.

From analyzing the interviews, we found our opportunity. The people who use e-scooters for both reasons (or in some cases not at all) are worried about their own safety when using the e-scooters and also when other riders harm their safety physically or emotionally. What we found is that safety is important for two groups of people: the e-scooter users and non-users.

Observations

We did some observations to confirm our idea. It was quite difficult to find situations where people would hurt themselves or be in a dangerous situation but we did find some things:

E-scooter users usually go with “full gas” when there are no people around, even if the quality of the road is bad.

The weather conditions don’t affect the riding style that much.

Only people with their own personal scooters use helmets.

Desktop research

From these observations, we did desktop research to find out if there are any commonly occurring problems with e-scooters in Estonia. We tried to find information from the news and Facebook groups. The most commonly occurring problems were:

People park rental scooters in the middle of the street or in front of doors and gates which disturbs pedestrians.

The main reason why people get hurt or even die while riding with e-scooters is that they are careless and drive too fast.

People get scared when someone with an e-scooter passes close-by to them.

A complaint in the Facebook group “Tallinn City Centre for Expats”

How might we… (HMW)

Now that we had gathered enough information to start thinking about how might we (HMW), meaning what will be the core problem that we want to solve. It helped us frame our design process. After some debating our HMW is:

How might we encourage careless users to be more responsible for their own safety and also for non-users safety?

Design principles

After we had written out our HMW, we decided to make design principles to help us stay focused on what really mattered to our target audience. The design principles are:

“Safety should be for users and non-users.”

“Responsibility does not ruin the experience (joyriding).”

“Let’s reduce the gap between feeling safe and being safe.”

“Clear communication is key.”

Ideation and feedback loop

At this part of the project, we were able to start thinking about our possible solutions for the problem. We did a lot of brainstorming but in the end, we came up with three main ideas:
When You Start Showing Compassion, I’ll Stop Judging You
By: Rachael Hope
Tags: Coronavirus, Health, Covid 19, Society, Safety

Screenshot by author via Facebook

In Lynden, there’s an organization called “We will” that organized what they called the “Santa Rebellion” to coincide with the drive-through light parade on Saturday. The flier encouraged people to come see Santa because FREEDOM.

Are you… serious? No one is going to die from not getting a Santa picture for one year. In fact, I’d argue that a dead parent or grandparent is much more traumatic for a young child. This isn’t some conspiracy, there are actual refrigerated trucks full of dead bodies.

This group touts themselves as “a bunch of concerned citizens spending their own money and time to inform the community about the unconstitutional overreaches of Inslee and are asking for nothing in return.” I beg to differ. They are asking for human lives in return. They are actively encouraging people to behave in dangerous ways, and if you think I’m not going to judge them for that, you’ve got another think coming. They ask:

Are you okay with our rights being stolen and our Constitution trampled for the excuse of saving people from a virus with a 99.97% survivability rate?

Well… yes? I am? First of all, that is not an accurate survivability rate. Survivability depends partially on circumstance, and the exact types of activities this group is encouraging have pushed the case mortality rate in the United States up to 1.9%. At face value, that may seem like a small number, but even if only 10% of people become infected, that’s a potential death toll of over 600,000 people. That would make it the largest mass death in U.S. History. In what world is that an okay number of people to just write off as an acceptable loss??

All of this okayness with putting actual human lives at risk makes me sick to my stomach. Last week, 3,000 people died in one day in the US. How do you look at those numbers and make an argument that your rights are being stolen because you got asked to stay inside your home? A heated building with running water and a refrigerator full of groceries, TV, the internet, books to read, and whatever else you want. No one is trampling the constitution. They’re asking you to be considerate.
Follow Safety Measures, Please!
By: Sumon Basak
Tags: Science, Chemistry, Writing, Sbk456, Safety

Momentary deviation from safety regulations would have costed both eyes of Nobel laureate Karl Berry Sharpless.

Photo by Dustin Tray from Pexels

Laboratory safety measures are there to take care of us, not to discomfort us.

Don’t take off their safety goggles, put off aprons, & remove gloves.

Nobel laureate Karl Sharpless suffered a trauma in the lab, costing him an eye.

In 1970, Karl received an appointment as an assistant professor at the MIT.

He used to take safety measures in the lab as rituals & never take them lightly.

But one day, he unintentionally crossed the boundary only to face consequences.

That day, at the time of leaving the lab, this newly appointed faculty member got intrigued by an experiment of a grad student.

He was sealing an NMR tube at atmospheric pressure, keeping that in liquid nitrogen.

Karl picked it up to see the content in the tube.

Within the moments, he realized the tube contained oxygen under tremendous pressure but it’s too late.

Tube burst & shattered glass fragments penetrated one of the pair of his eyes.

Doctors even considered the fact that Karl’s healthy eye may also turn blind due to an auto-immune response from the body.

Gratifyingly, that didn’t turn out to be the case & the other eye remained healthy.

Lesson? Remain cautious, stay safe in the lab!
Japan 2020 Viral Word "Sanmitsu" Can Protect You from Covid-19
By: Eva V.
Tags: Buzzwords, Coronavirus, Stay At Home, Safety, Japan

Japan 2020 Viral Word "Sanmitsu" Can Protect You from Covid-19

Photo by H Shaw on Unsplash

Sanmitsu is known in English as "the three Cs," which stands for Crowded places, Close-contact settings, and Confined spaces. Tokyo Governor first introduced the term "Sanmitsu" to urge residents to prevent the transmission of Covid-19.

The term has been so frequently reminded that it has become part of the public daily lingo. People would say "Mitsu desu" or "It's Mitsu," and everyone understands the situation.

This approach was adopted early on in the pandemic and has so far kept fatalities levels far below those of Europe and the US without mandating a lockdown of the society and the economy.
UX IRL: Ford Fusion Interface Issues
By: Hayley Smith
Tags: Ford, UX Design, UX, Safety

2018 Ford Fusion

I was driving with my husband to go pick up an item we purchased for Black Friday. We replaced his car with a Ford Fusion a few months ago but, due to Covid, we haven’t been driving much.

We finally used the GPS partly because we forgot where the store is and partially because we wanted to try it out. After exclusively using Apple Maps or Google Maps on our phones for years this was a big change! And, no surprise here, I have some thoughts.

Honestly, WT heck is up with this system?

Is everyone’s car GPS like this? I’m imagining that this is a Ford-specific OS and design, that other car companies are different, but omg it is bad. Now, honestly, there might be some cognitive load or “learning curve” that we aren’t over yet, but with our early use experiences, it seems pretty flawed.
Understanding— Logistic Regression within 5min 🐱‍🏍
By: Sri Vigneshwar Dj
Tags: Movies, Logistic Regression, Machine Learning, Classification, Data Science

Considering a dataset, where you need to classify events or classes like pass/fail, true/false, win/lose, healthy/sick.. etc, logistic regression will be a great choice to use. Logistic regression is a statistical model that used a logistic function or sigmoid function to model a binary dependent variable.

To understand when to use Logistic Regression, let’s assume that you are a senior Data Scientist at Disney+, your job is to find which age group of people respond to the advertisement campaign for the new movie Housefull 4.

You were given a dataset comprised of a campaign conducted for Houseful 3 and their results (which age group people responded positively). So it's your responsibility to find what is the right age group of people to be targeted for advertising Houseful 4.

Houseful 4 (Source: https://www.hotstar.com/in/movies/housefull-4/1260014263)

Let’s look at the dataset first 👇

Here we can see the problem, we can just fit a line like this and make it a classification problem, We can!!!😁, but the results will be worst 👈. Using Logistic regression we can able to draw the best-fit line for the given dataset using the sigmoid function.

The MATH 🐱‍🚀 behind Logistic Regression

Model:

Output: 0 or 1 , True or False

Hypothesis: Z = WX + B

hΘ(x) = sigmoid (Z)

The hypothesis of logistic regression, its cost function ranges between 0 and 1. The sigmoid function is used to predict the probability.

Logistic Function or Sigmoid Function:

Let’s first understand how to draw a nonlinear line to classify the dataset, Simply sigmoid function converts the real value into another value like between 0 and 1.

Sigmoid function formula

Sigmoid does the magic !!! 🧛‍♂️

Sigmoid function graph

Simple derivation, from linear regression 👇

Understanding the relation between Linear Regression and Logistic Regression is important.

While using linear regression we used the formula of the hypothesis i.e.

hΘ(x) = β₀ + β₁X

and For logistic regression, we will modify linear regression’s formula a bit i.e. (See Fig 3 derivation) 👇

Derivation

The hypothesis of Logistic Regression

Cost Function:

You might have learned about the cost function in simple linear regression, the cost J(θ) and minimizing it help in achieving the best model and high accuracy.

Cost Function

But in logistic regression, if we use linear regression’s cost function, then it will end up in a nonlinear convex graph which of no use and will have many local minima.

Cost Function of Logistic Regression:

Cost function Logistic regression

And the graph looks like 👇

Conclusion:

Thanks for reading my blog, I really appreciate it🙏. I hope this blog helps you to understand Logistic Regression.
Classification & Regression
By: Rahulch Unix
Tags: Machine Learning, Regression, Classification

Here I’m going to discuss classification and regression:

Before jumping directly to classification and regression let’s understand how it looks pictorially.

At very top level, Machine learning approaches are traditionally divided into three broad categories:

Supervised learning: The computer is presented with example inputs and their desired outputs, given by a “teacher”, and the goal is to learn a general rule that maps inputs to outputs.

Unsupervised learning: No labels are given to the learning algorithm, leaving it on its own to find structure in its input. Unsupervised learning can be a goal in itself (discovering hidden patterns in data) or a means towards an end (feature learning).

Reinforcement learning: A computer program interacts with a dynamic environment in which it must perform a certain goal (such as driving a vehicle or playing a game against an opponent).

Classification

To understand classification let’s take an example of any e-commerce company, before buying any product we all read the review of the product. It is highly likely that we buy product with good rating.

Suppose we have to build a machine learning model to classify the polarity of the product. I.E. the given review is +ve or -ve (neutral review is not valuable for us). This kind of predictive model is know as classification model.

A classification model with two classes is often called a two-class or binary classification model. Similarly, a calcification with more than two classes is often called a multi-class classification model.

Let’s go little more deeper, say for example, I’m having millions of review, something like Amazon Food review dataset: https://www.kaggle.com/snap/amazon-fine-food-reviews

Now, I have to use this dataset and build a model so that we can predict any new review either as +ve or -ve review (2 class classification).

So, what we do, will divide the dataset into 2 parts: Training data and Test Data. We will train our ML model with training data and once the algorithm learn, the training face is over. The algorithm goes to test or evaluation stage, where algorithm need to find Yi for Xi, as shown below:

So, basically classification can be thought as finding a function Y = f(x), such that, if we provide any new input, we should get the desired output. This is the crux of classification.

Regression

As in classification, we have seen that the output could either 2 class or multi class classification.

What is the Yi on the other hand belongs to real number, for example the weight of human, this is known as Regression. So, such a problem, where Yi belongs to a Real number, is know as Regression.

Examples:

predict weight from gender, height, age, etc

predict Google stock price today from Google, Yahoo, MSFT prices yesterday

predict each pixel intensity in robot’s current camera image, from previous image and previous action

So, the only difference between classification and regression is the value of Yi, i.e.

if Yi = {0,1} → Classification

if Yi belongs to R → Regression

References:
Nullifying the Bias from Imbalance Classes
By: Anurag Kuche
Tags: Smote, Machine Learning, Classification, Fraud Detection, Finance

Where one class vastly outnumbers the other. We would have to deal with this scenario in most of the sectors like finance, ad servings, healthcare and, vehicle failure, and much more. whether this transaction is fraudulent or not? where a person clicks on the ads or not, does the person corresponding to this x-ray has cancer or not, could be a breakdown in the middle of transit. Though there are only small probabilities of these above events it would be devastating if it happens, so as we would like to predict when they could happen and try to minimize our problems.

As machine learning engineers or data scientists, we have to help predict fraudulent transactions. Many techniques can be used to battle imbalance in a dataset they are

Under-sampling Oversampling Class weights Changing the optimization metric

To understand to what extent these above methods help us I would like to first follow the normal method to show how badly it does. so that we could quantify the use of each method later.

Vanilla classification without SMOTE

There are various steps to be followed in a machine learning project:

Dataset loading EDA Data preparation Model building

Dataset loading and preparation

So you need a classification dataset that suffers from a class imbalance problem. Something like credit card fraud detection should do

Here’s how to load it with Python: