Frames of Safety
Awareness,
wakefulness, alertness, watchfulness, precaution, vigilance are some of the
words for defining the frames related with safety. Precaution, vigilance and alertness are tree
frames that are directly related with large systems safety.
Frames are
situational assemblages of material objects (including bodies and settings)
that evoke certain responses from individuals, in part by activating particular
sets of schemas. Frame is a set of
objects, a collection of objects. These
objects may be simple material objects or abstract phenomena.
The simplest sense of the word ‘frame’ implies a border
which defines inside and outside of this border. Sets or collections define a group of
elements that belong to them. If an item
belongs to a collection this means that item is in that collection.
The collections or sets may define the characteristics of items rather than listing the items explicitly. The items may not only be material objects, but real objects such as a ‘fireman’ who has certain attributes and functions. His functions are scripts that he/she executes. The rule for building a set/collection can be anything. A certain attribute or script may also be a building rule of a set/collection.
Polymorphism means "many forms", and it occurs when we have many classes that are related to each other by inheritance. For example an apple tree, a pear tree and a pine are all trees. These three trees belong to the polymorphism of the class: tree. Polymorphism implies that the polymorphic objects possess common attributes or scripts/methods that are common in all trees. Every three has a trunk and branches etc.
The collections/sets that form frames may have the building rule of including certain attributes or scripts of a polymorphic family. For example, decide that you shall see only the trunks of trees around you when you are walking in a forest. You will notice that only the trunks of the trees appear to your attention. This is the same phenomenon that when you are driving you see only pedestrians appearing in close vicinity of your car’s prospective path. This is because you have set a ‘safety frame’ against risky pedestrians.
While driving you may suddenly wakeup to the fact that the car in the front does something unusual. This is also because you earlier had set a ‘safety frame’, a skill by former training or experience.
A frame may be automatic/nondeclarative
or intentional/declarative. You may choose
an appropriate parking place intentionally with your parking criteriums that
form a declarative frame.
Returning back to the ‘frames of safety’,
namely precaution,
vigilance and alertness; all of these safety frames are formed to be triggered
by certain conditions. The problem is
these conditions are either not identified or even not known. The items of these frames may include pseudo
conditions or regions of conditions by polymorphism. These conditions are inherited from many
layers above from the general safety rules.
But they are not instantiated as absolute items. Psychologically, this gives a sense of awareness,
wakefulness, watchfulness.
Awareness, wakefulness, alertness,
watchfulness indicate also an element of feelings. This is why air traffic control, piloting a
large system or aviation in general is also a performance art.
