On 3/31/2018 3:50 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 31 Mar 2018 13:53:31 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote:

In the cycling community, there are many who believe absence of evidence
is trumped by an anecdote or two - as in "I _know_ that people no longer
pull out in front of me when I wear my lucky fluorescent socks!"

I think you mean phosphorescent, not fluorescent.
https://www.thoughtco.com/fluorescence-versus-phosphorescence-4063769
When in doubt, I suggest photoluminescent, which covers both types.

Well, I'm pretty sure fluorescent is more accurate. The garish clothing
doesn't glow after light is taken away. But I'll have to take a quick
look and see if the electrons change spin or not. First I'll have to
borrow some of the stuff. I don't think I own any.

Whatever the magic talisman, users deem it every bit as effective as
medieval indulgences. Anyone who doubts is a heretic to be shouted down.

Magic talisman, charms, and safety equipment are also equally
effective. Much depends on whether the user is a true believer.

I've read a fair amount lately about the fact that placebos really can
work pretty well, especially for believers. AFAIK, this hasn't been
studied in bike "safety" equipment. Maybe there's PhD thesis lurking there!

For
example, at a former employer, we had an Amp wire crimper. The crump
lugs would arrive on a large reel, which was fed into the machine. The
operator would prepare a wire with the insulation stripped back a few
mm, feed it to the machine, stomp on a foot pedal, and the mechanism
would crimp the lug onto the end of the wire.

The machine had been operating for about 8 years without a single
accident. One day, the priests of the OSHA religion arrived and
declared that the machine was "unsafe". We were instructed to "make
it safe" or face a rather expensive fine. We contacted Amp and
ordered a rather expensive safety kit consisting of a pneumatically
powered clear plastic fence and a tangle of pneumatics to move the
fence. There was also dual safety buttons and a controller. The safe
way to crimp wire was now to insert the stripped wire, press the two
buttons simultaneously, which would drop the plastic fence, and enable
the foot switch, which could then be used to crimp the lug onto the
wire.

I vaguely recall that it took about 3 months to generate 5 trips to
the local emergency room for a variety of odd injuries. Most involved
having the plastic fence simulate a guillotine to some body part.
Fortunately, we had reduced the air pressure at the fence to the
minimum, so injuries were more like bruises and not broken bones or
amputations. I'll spare you the details.

The problem was that operators now believed that the addition of two
buttons and a plastic safety fence would protect them from the
machine. They took chances, they made modifications to the machinery,
they became sloppy, and they had accidents, all because they felt that
they were safe. A plastic safety fence is a rather odd looking
talisman, but functions in the same manner.

That tale resonated well. I once worked in a facility that did lots of
crimped connectors (although they were almost all highly automatic,
sometimes thousands per minute); and my best friend was, at one time, an
OSHA inspector.

One of my first projects, when working as a plant engineer, was
installation of a tall machine with pinch rollers way up at the top. I
was proud of my job, and quite confident when the plant safety committee
visited. To check out the pinch rollers, they got a very tall guy to
perch on a step of some kind and reach way, way up over the machine to
try to touch a roller. He reported in a strained voice "Yeah, I can
barely touch it..." and they immediately said "We need an E-stop trip
wire up there." sigh So we installed one. I doubt it was ever used.

The standard these days seems to be the company must make even
deliberate self-damage impossible. Maybe it makes economic sense in a
litigious society, but it's still weird.

--
- Frank Krygowski