Smart machines, risk mitigation and public safety

By Jill Lowe

Our family won’t forget our nine year old in 1987 reaching back to the flimsy rail on an upper section of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Just a rail like a shower curtain rail. Quietly but swiftly he was pulled back in terror. What negligence did we display?

Well we came to rely on the notion of public buildings having safety elements. This seems more evident in North America with many playgrounds featuring soft cushioning material to deal with children falling. But outside the USA it seems there has been more of a tendency to require people to use commonsense and to not assume that ledges, cliffs, lookouts, playgrounds have coded safety rails.

The notion that “they” will provide one’s safety is often referred to as a nanny state. It seems however that wherever one travels, both in and out of USA, it is incumbent on oneself to exercise personal responsibility because there are continuing dangers of ledges crumbling or areas of deep dangerous water, or even the backyard swimming pool.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon in USA are advised thusly:-

The Grand Canyon in USA

Below is a recent image of a lookout at the culmination of the hike in Norway,

which surely commands commonsense in caution!

Preikestollen (Pulpit’s Rock) in Norway

Over the past years there has been a shift in risk mitigation from risk acceptance to risk aversion and much has been driven by litigation. The result has for many resulted in some loss of autonomy and it is the complex issue of this tension between autonomy and public safety which is of more and more focus.

It is not in the public interest to foster dependence on regulation instead of personal judgement.

For the most part we do enjoy the regulated safety features: for instance we like that pill bottles have childproof caps: as long as there is an easy override! (in other words some autonomy.) We like that windows open to just less than a child’s head, so that falls from buildings are prevented.

We like beeps on backing commercial vehicles to minimize people being run over. Those who hold the common good as paramount welcome seatbelt laws and motor-cycle helmet laws.

Smart machines and devices have now become the norm, and more and more technology is accelerating safety improvement, which further has possible impacts on personal autonomy.

Anyone who recently purchased a washer or dryer knows that it is often hard to learn to use. This is most evident with dryers which now contain sensors detecting dryness and fabric content..

It is very hard to purchase such an appliance with less features.

Many machines do not have any easily discernible manual override and the menu of options is staggering. In one luxury brand of dryer, if the sensor detects one pair of socks to be dry, it applies this to the load, and ends the cycle. The older commercial dryers which have on and off switch and perhaps as few as 3 temperature settings do “as they are told” without minds of their own. Some customers wistfully would like to purchase such.

The smart options I believe would be welcomed more if an easy manual option was also available. Currently if a manual override program is available (and it usually is), it so often well hidden in the menu of options and further hidden within particular modes.

Perhaps you have purchased a microwave recently and will likely remember having had to spend some very vexing minutes desperately trying to deactivate the child locks. (As of April 1 2024, all countertop microwave ovens manufactured to be sold in the United States will be equipped with the UL923 Child-Resistant Door Lock function as a UL safety requirement.)

Some new electrical outlets need special angling of tines to plug in a toaster, or a blender. So if one burns the toast and unplugs the device, often one needs to reach for the manual to reinsert the tines.

And don’t even mention automobiles. They are mostly untouchable, being computerised.

Smart automobiles try to avert tragedy. In newer automobiles, when leaving a car and removing keys, some automobiles provide a voice reminder to check if a child is in the car. Many childless drivers would like to find the easy override for this feature.

Users of the Apple watch will likely be familiar with the fall detection feature, very welcome by many but it can be triggered when chopping garlic or a loud noise, and will call to emergency services unless cancelled. Fortunately, the report of “no fall” is easy. It is this aspect of the easy override which is so welcome, thus giving protection with autonomy.

Smart screens in some Chicago stores

In recent years in Chicago customers may remember a foray in to smart screen digital refrigerator doors in some stores.

Indeed there was some customer pushback wondering if data was being collected, as well as a certain frustration with not being able to see in the refrigerator door.

Those particular smart screens have currently been replaced with see-though doors. It turns out people seem to like seeing what is offered.

The recent foray into smart screen fridge doors. Clear doors of 2025

Smart machines and devices are here to stay. AI is here to stay. The impact will continue. One hopes that more manual overrides are present, allowing autonomy with safety.

Well did anything happen at the Leaning Tower of Pisa since 1987? Indeed it did!

We were so pleased to see the sequence of seeing an article written by Bob O’Sulliuvan in the Los Angeles Times in December 1987 describing the hazards of visiting the wonderful Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is one of the three white marble buildings constituting the Piazza del Miracole in Pisa. The leaning Tower of Pisa was commenced in 1174.

The hazards described in 1987 included the more than 5% lean, the lack of safety barriers (some 253 persons were reported to have fallen, apparently since 1174) and also the fact that the extremely loud seven bells were not ornamental.

Soon after this article, in 1990, the building was closed and the lean made less. Not straight as perhaps the attraction of a lean would be lost and the name would have to change! To-day the lean is reported to be less than 5%.

Safety equipment has been added, the bells silenced (as the ringing was thought to contribute to the lean.)

The building re-opened in 2001, still leaning but now with the safety features.