Country
Country
The design of our living environment determines our safety. We try to separate housing, transport and industry as much as possible, but that is not always possible. We want to live and work in safe buildings, without the risk of fire. We want to be able to walk safely on the streets, even when the wind is strong, without the risk of being hit by a flying roof tile. We want to go to a concert, preferably all together, because nothing is as enjoyable as sharing fun with others, but if there is danger, we want to be able to get away quickly, again all together. And when we return from our outing, we want to be able to safely fill our vehicle with fuel or electricity. We want to feel safe next to an industry that works with hazardous substances, and if we ourselves work with hazardous substances, we don’t want them to end up in our lungs.
When danger threatens, we want to know about it. In our working environment, there is often an evacuation system for this purpose. Good speech intelligibility is then truly vital, because when it matters, you want to have the right information. A lot of noise can lead to information loss and concentration problems that do not directly contribute to the desired safety in the workplace. When you are in the air in a helicopter, you don’t want to be at the mercy of the elements; the controllability of an aircraft, even under extreme conditions, is a matter of life and death. The same applies on board ships; in a storm, you want the ship to be stable and able to continue on its course safely. Firing a flare in an emergency at sea can be lifesaving, but during a party in your backyard, it can be life-threatening.
