Edx Natural disaster course

If you read this blog, you might be interested in the following Edx course:
https://www.edx.org/course/natural-disasters-mcgillx-atoc185x

It's a MOOC (massive open online course), which is free to follow.

New Year damage

Celebration is for some people a reason for some vandalism. So was this new year. Somebody though it was fun to put some heavy firework under my back window wiper. Gone was the window and I found pieces of the wiper 4 meters back, possible bounced back from a fence .

They also found it funny to wipe my neighbours car with a salad?

Living in a relative quite area and parking in a quiet place did not seem to help against low life. Guess next year I’ll park my car in the office car park. 

Why you always want enough spare batteries for all you smoke and CO detectors.

Smoke detectors using 9V batteries have a warning beep, when the battery gets low. This will keep beeping until the battery dies or has been replaced. A few handy facts to know:

- The batteries have a lower voltage when it’s cold. Since the temperature drops during the night, the beeps usually starts during the night. This is also why sometimes it seems to disappear in the morning and come back next night.
- If you have multiple detectors, the threshold for the beep to start varies between detectors. So using a multi meter of battery checker might not find the one which is beeping.
- NiMH and Lithium batteries have different voltage properties so depending on the detector it might start beeping to late or too soon.

If you do not want to wake up at night from the beeps, make sure you replace the batteries on time. If it still beeps, make sure you have enough batteries to replace them all. Finding the correct detector can be hard and is rather annoying in the middle of the night. Replacing them all at once and get back to sleep. Trust me, I have 5 detectors (smoke, heat and CO) and all in a small apartment.

Other things to note:
- Make sure to cap or tape of 9V batteries after use to prevent short circuiting
- The detectors have expiration dates too. When you use them to long, the detectors become less sensitive.

How to stay up to date

I have a back ground in public management specifically aimed at safety. However there are many government cut backs and emergency management is just as affected by these budget cuts as other government tasks. I'm currently not employed in this field directly. I work for a supplier of training software for emergency management, so clsoe but not clsoe enough. There are a few thing i do to keep up to date so i can get back in to this field of work. This is what I do:

• Follow all the news letters of all organisations related to your field. This keeps you up to date with all the new things.

• Following Linkedin group related to your field. This keeps you up to date with all the new things, but also what others think of it. Knowing what the feeling is amongst the crowd is vitally important as a policy maker.

• Following  additional courses to make you stand out. This can be expensive professional education, but MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) are also good option. MOOC’s have the advantage of being free, allows you to follow up to date courses and from university all over the world (different perspectives). But they generally do not provide with profesional certifications which are needed sometimes. It does nicely extend your CV and shows future employees that you are doing things to improve yourself and keep up to date. Professional education has the advantage of actual certification which are in demand. However also rather expensive.

Light weight electric vehicles crash worthiness

With increasingly more attention to global emissions and local pollution, electric vehicles are getting more popular. There are a few way of making electric vehicles. One way is to make a electric car like a gasoline car in size and weight. The other way is to make a lighter type of vehicle. This increasingly is causing concern in crashes between light weight vehicles and regular vehicles.

The IIHS already published there finding on low speed vehicles (or mini trucks) in 2010

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/low-speed-vehicles-and-minitrucks-shouldnt-share-busy-public-roads-with-regular-traffic

Euroncap made a test for what is referred to as  ‘quadricycles’. US and European vehicle classes are not the same so it’s hard to compare them directly, but these vehicles are also light weight and do not have to meet the same regulation as ‘normal’ vehicles on the road.

http://www.euroncap.com/results/quadricycles.aspx

Light weight vehicles generally do not perform well against regular traffic. Something to keep in mind when buying and driving such vehicles. 

Burglar prevention; Secustrip

Many countries have certain burglar prevention and mitigation which are not seen in other countries. One interesting door hardening devices out there is a Secustrip, made by a Dutch company. It’s a metal bar with a special shape placed on both the door and the door frame. It effectively prevents burglars from being able to stick something between the door and frame to pry the door open. This effectively reduces the chance of burglars getting entrance by prying, which is one of the most popular methods of defeating doors.

Several versions are available, for inwards and outwards swinging doors and different recess between the door and the frame. Some versions have the screw fully covered by the bars, while some models have requires special security screws on the outside.  Available in steel, aluminum and galvanized steel and in different colors.

These strips run the full length of the door and frame and does require a stiff door to work effectively. If the door is not stiff enough, a gap can be created by putting a boot on the door and flexing the door at the bottom. By no means a solution for all burglar methods, but it does make it harder.

More information can be found on the website of the manufacture (unfortunately in Dutch)

Helmet do they work or they they not work; ski / snowboard helmets

There is a lot of discussion about helmets. For proffesional use; contractors, rescue personal, etc they are pretty much mandatory and not much discussion going down there.

However when it comes down to helmets are recreation, this becomes a discussion. Does a helmet save you from a climbing accident? bike crash? a ski/snowboard crash? Ice skate crash?

Well all sports have there discussion, different dangers and different helmet regulations. Here are some interesting information about ski and snowboard helmets:

http://skicanadamag.com/2011/12/05/gear/helmet-science

http://www.ski-injury.com/prevention/helmet

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/sports/on-slopes-rise-in-helmet-use-but-no-decline-in-brain-injuries.html?_r=0

In the end the basic conclusion is that a helmet won't increased your survival rate when you hit a stationary object (rock, tree) with high speeds. It does protect your head from slower impacts, which would be far more harmful if no helmet is worn.