This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. See talk page for details. (July 2010)

Warning signs, such as this one, can improve safety awareness.

Safety is the state of being "safe" (from French sauf), the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered non-desirable. Safety can also be defined to be the control of recognized hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk. This can take the form of being protected from the event or from exposure to something that causes health or economical losses. It can include protection of people or of possessions.

Meanings[link]

There are two slightly different meanings of safety. For example, home safety may indicate a building's ability to protect against external harm events (such as weather, home invasion, etc.), or may indicate that its internal installations (such as appliances, stairs, etc.) are safe (not dangerous or harmful) for its inhabitants.

Discussions of safety often include mention of related terms. Security is such a term. With time the definitions between these two have often become interchanged, equated, and frequently appear juxtaposed in the same sentence. Readers unfortunately are left to conclude whether they comprise a redundancy. This confuses the uniqueness that should be reserved for each by itself. When seen as unique, as we intend here, each term will assume its rightful place in influencing and being influenced by the other.

Safety is the condition of a “steady state” of an organization or place doing what it is supposed to do. “What it is supposed to do” is defined in terms of public codes and standards, associated architectural and engineering designs, corporate vision and mission statements, and operational plans and personnel policies. For any organization, place, or function, large or small, safety is a normative concept. It complies with situation-specific definitions of what is expected and acceptable. ^[1]

Using this definition, protection from a home’s external threats and protection from its internal structural and equipment failures (see Meanings, above) are not two types of safety but rather two aspects of a home’s steady state.

In the world of everyday affairs, not all goes as planned. Some entity’s steady state is challenged. This is where security science, which is of more recent date, enters. Drawing from the definition of safety, then:

Security is the process or means, physical or human, of delaying, preventing, and otherwise protecting against external or internal, defects, dangers, loss, criminals, and other individuals or actions that threaten, hinder or destroy an organization’s “steady state,” and deprive it of its intended purpose for being.

Using this generic definition of safety it is possible to specify the elements of a security program.^[1]

Limitations[link]

Safety can be limited in relation to some guarantee or a standard of insurance to the quality and unharmful function of an object or organization. It is used in order to ensure that the object or organization will do only what it is meant to do.

It is important to realize that safety is relative. Eliminating all risk, if even possible, would be extremely difficult and very expensive. A safe situation is one where risks of injury or property damage are low and manageable.

Types of safety[link]

It is important to distinguish between products that meet standards, that are safe, and those that merely feel safe. The highway safety community uses these terms:

Normative safety[link]

Normative safety is a term used to describe products or designs that meet applicable design standards and protection.

Substantive safety[link]

Substantive, or objective safety means that the real-world safety history is favorable, whether or not standards are met.

Perceived safety[link]

Perceived, or subjective safety refers to the level of comfort of users. For example, traffic signals are perceived as safe, yet under some circumstances, they can increase traffic crashes at an intersection. Traffic roundabouts have a generally favorable safety record,^{[citation needed]} yet often make drivers nervous.

Risks and responses[link]

Safety is generally interpreted as implying a real and significant impact on risk of death, injury or damage to property. In response to perceived risks many interventions may be proposed with engineering responses and regulation being two of the most common.

Probably the most common individual response to perceived safety issues is insurance, which compensates for or provides restitution in the case of damage or loss.

System safety and reliability engineering[link]

System safety and reliability engineering is an engineering discipline. Continuous changes in technology, environmental regulation and public safety concerns make the analysis of complex safety-critical systems more and more demanding.

A common fallacy, for example among electrical engineers regarding structure power systems, is that safety issues can be readily deduced. In fact, safety issues have been discovered one by one, over more than a century in the case mentioned, in the work of many thousands of practitioners, and cannot be deduced by a single individual over a few decades. A knowledge of the literature, the standards and custom in a field is a critical part of safety engineering. A combination of theory and track record of practices is involved, and track record indicates some of the areas of theory that are relevant. (In the USA, persons with a state license in Professional Engineering in Electrical Engineering are expected to be competent in this regard, the foregoing notwithstanding, but most electrical engineers have no need of the license for their work.)

Safety is often seen as one of a group of related disciplines: quality, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety. (Availability is sometimes not mentioned, on the principle that it is a simple function of reliability and maintainability.) These issues tend to determine the value of any work, and deficits in any of these areas are considered to result in a cost, beyond the cost of addressing the area in the first place; good management is then expected to minimize total cost.

Safety measures[link]

Safety measures are activities and precautions taken to improve safety, i.e. reduce risk related to human health. Common safety measures include:

• Root cause analysis to identify causes of a system failure and correct deficiencies.
• Visual examination for dangerous situations such as emergency exits blocked because they are being used as storage areas.
• Visual examination for flaws such as cracks, peeling, loose connections.
• Chemical analysis
• X-ray analysis to see inside a sealed object such as a weld, a cement wall or an airplane outer skin.
• Destructive testing of samples
• Stress testing subjects a person or product to stresses in excess of those the person or product is designed to handle, to determining the "breaking point".
• Safety margins/Safety factors. For instance, a product rated to never be required to handle more than 200 pounds might be designed to fail under at least 400 pounds, a safety factor of two. Higher numbers are used in more sensitive applications such as medical or transit safety.
• Implementation of standard protocols and procedures so that activities are conducted in a known way.
• Training of employees, vendors, product users
• Instruction manuals explaining how to use a product or perform an activity
• Instructional videos demonstrating proper use of products
• Examination of activities by specialists to minimize physical stress or increase productivity
• Government regulation so suppliers know what standards their product is expected to meet.
• Industry regulation so suppliers know what level of quality is expected. Industry regulation is often imposed to avoid potential government regulation.
• Self-imposed regulation of various types.
• Statements of Ethics by industry organizations or an individual company so its employees know what is expected of them.
• Drug testing of employees, etc.
• Physical examinations to determine whether a person has a physical condition that would create a problem.
• Periodic evaluations of employees, departments, etc.
• Geological surveys to determine whether land or water sources are polluted, how firm the ground is at a potential building site, etc.

Standards organizations[link]

A number of standards organizations exist that promulgate safety standards. These may be voluntary organizations or government agencies.

United States[link]

American National Standards Institute[link]

A major American standards organization is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Usually, members of a particular industry will voluntarily form a committee to study safety issues and propose standards. Those standards are then recommended to ANSI, which reviews and adopts them. Many government regulations require that products sold or used must comply with a particular ANSI standard.

Testing laboratories[link]

Product safety testing, for the United States, is largely controlled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In addition, workplace related products come under the jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which certifies independent testing companies as Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTL), see [1].

Government agencies[link]

Many government agencies set safety standards for matters under their jurisdiction, such as:

• the Food and Drug Administration
• the Consumer Product Safety Commission
• the United States Environmental Protection Agency

Other countries[link]

Standards institutions[link]

• British Standards Institution
• Canadian Standards Association
• Deutsches Institut für Normung
• International Organization for Standardization

Testing laboratories[link]

Many countries have national organizations that have accreditation to test and/or submit test reports for safety certification. These are typically referred to as a Notified or Competent Body.

See also[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.ihasco.co.uk
• www.SafetyDo.com is Online Safety Digest
• Safety Australia
• Safety Resources
• Safety.com is a free Web 2.0 Community for Safety Citizens: Professionals and Laypersons

References[link]

Richard Simmons
Simmons in September 2011
Born	Milton Teagle Simmons (1948-07-12) July 12, 1948 (age 63)[1] New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.[1]
Residence	Beverly Hills, California
Nationality	American
Education	Cor Jesu High School
Alma mater	University of Southwestern Louisiana, Florida State University
Occupation	Physical fitness expert, voice actor, Political Activist
Years active	1974–present
Home town	French Quarter, Louisiana
Height	5 ft 6.5 in (1.69 m)
Television	The Richard Simmons Show Fish Hooks
Religion	Catholic
Website
www.RichardSimmons.com

Milton Teagle Simmons (born July 12, 1948),^[1] known professionally as Richard Simmons, is an American fitness personality who promotes weight-loss programs, prominently through his Sweatin' to the Oldies line of aerobics videos and is known for his eccentric, outgoing and frequently flamboyant personality. Currently, he also provides the voice of Coach Salmons on the Disney Channel animated series Fish Hooks.

Simmons began his career by opening a gym called Slimmons in Beverly Hills, California, catering to the overweight, and he became widely known through exposure on television and through the popularity of his consumer products. He is often parodied, and a frequent guest of late night television talk shows such as The Late Show With David Letterman. Simmons continues to promote health and has broadened his activities to include political activism, notably in support of a bill mandating non-competitive physical education in public schools as a part of the "No Child Left Behind" act.^[2][3]

Early life[link]

Richard Simmons was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[1] Simmons was born to show business parents^[4] and raised Catholic in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended Cor Jesu High School (now Brother Martin High School).^[5] He was obese throughout his adolescence and by the time he graduated from high school, he weighed 268 pounds.

His first job, in New Orleans, was selling pralines at Leah's.^[6] After starting college at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, he transferred to Florida State University. While enrolled there, he studied as an exchange student in Florence, Italy. He graduated with a BA in Art. After graduation, Simmons moved to New York City where he worked in advertising, as a waiter, and for cosmetics companies Revlon and Coty Cosmetics.

Fitness career[link]

Upon moving to Los Angeles in the 1970s, Simmons worked as the Maître d'hotel at Derek's,^[7] a restaurant in Beverly Hills. He developed an interest in fitness, but was dissatisfied with the unhealthy fad diet methods^{[clarification needed]} and the established gyms and exercise studios of the day which favored the already fit customer. It was his interest in fitness that helped him lose 123 lb (56 kg).

Simmons later opened his own exercise studio, originally called The Anatomy Asylum, where emphasis was placed on healthy eating in proper portions and enjoyable exercise in a supportive atmosphere. The business originally included a salad bar restaurant called "Ruffage," the name a pun on the word roughage (dietary fiber), though it was eventually removed as the focus of the Asylum shifted solely to exercise.^[8] Now called Slimmons, the establishment continues operations in Beverly Hills, and Simmons teaches motivational classes and aerobics throughout the week.^[9]

On February 16, 2010, Simmons was on the Dr. Oz Show. At that time it was stated that Simmons has kept off his own 100+ pound weight loss for 42 years, has been helping others lose weight for 35 years, and that in the course of his fitness career has helped humanity lose approximately 12,000,000 pounds.^[10] Simmons now uses the web as a method of outreach by running his own membership based website, and also indicates on his home page that he has established official pages on numerous social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube.^[11]

In media[link]

Simmons began to draw media attention due to the success of his health club that began with him on the television show Real People where he was shown at work. He introduced customers whom he had helped to lose weight. He later made guest roles on the celebrity game shows: Battlestars, Body Language, Super Password, the ABC version of Match Game, the syndicated version of Hollywood Squares, Win, Lose or Draw and Nickelodeon's Figure It Out.

Positive viewer reaction landed Simmons a recurring role as himself on the American soap opera General Hospital,^[12] over a four-year period.^[13] This in turn led to further media notoriety, as well as being in shopping malls, where he taught exercise classes. In the early 1980s, Simmons hosted two shows; Slim Cookin, and an Emmy Award-winning talk show, The Richard Simmons Show, in which he focused on personal health, fitness, exercise, and healthy cooking.

Simmons has been featured as himself on numerous TV shows, including Whose Line Is It Anyway?, CHiPs, Saturday Night Live, The Larry Sanders Show and on an episode of Arrested Development, "Bringing Up Buster". In 1999, he hosted a short lived TV show called DreamMaker. Eight years later he filmed a pledge drive special for PBS, called Love Yourself and Win.

Simmons has been featured in TV advertisements for Sprint, Yoplait, Herbal Essence Shampoos,and toward the end of 2007, he was in a "This is SportsCenter" commercial on ESPN as the show's "conditioning coach." In Canada, Simmons was in an advertisement for Simmons mattresses. The mattress company hired the exercise celebrity because of the similarity in name, and for his appeal to the company's target audience of women over 35^{[citation needed]}. Beyond this, there is no further business partnership between the two.

For three years, he hosted a radio show on Sirius Stars, Sirius Satellite Radio channel 102, called Lighten Up with Richard Simmons. The show is no longer in production.

• Simmons was a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show in the 1990s. While he resolved at one point to refuse future involvement after Stern insulted him one too many times, he finally was on Stern's show on November 16, 2006, then returned again January 24, 2012.^[14]
• Simmons was also a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman (NBC) and The Late Show with David Letterman (CBS).^[15] On November 22, 2000, they had a falling out after an incident that occurred on that night's show. Simmons (while dressed as a turkey) was sprayed in the face by Letterman with a fire extinguisher after Simmons grabbed Letterman as if to hug or kiss him, causing Simmons to have a severe asthma attack.^[16] Simmons did not attend the Letterman show for six years, finally returning on November 29, 2006. During that time, Letterman once again set Simmons up for a prank. While Richard Simmons was demonstrating a steamer branded with his name, Letterman insisted on placing a tray under the steamer which Simmons did not believe belonged there. When Simmons turned the steamer on, something in the tray exploded and caught fire. Though initially frightened, Simmons took the incident in fairly good nature, even joking that he "felt like Michael Jackson" (referring to a mishap where Jackson's hair was set on fire by a pyrotechnics accident).^[17]
• Simmons also was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He and Leno went door-to-door to market Simmons' health program, only to have people spew as many insults at him as they could.^{[citation needed]}
• Simmons was a guest on the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
• Simmons is on tracks 1 and 10 of Bob Rivers's 1997 holiday album More Twisted Christmas.
• Simmons has multiple times been on The Glenn Beck Program on HLN.^[18]
• Simmons is featured heavily in the film clip of 'Hawker Boat' by Tobacco, taken from the album Fucked Up Friends.^[19]
• Simmons provides the voice for Coach Salmons, a reoccurring character modeled after his own likeness, for Disney Channel's animated television series Fish Hooks, a Disney Channel Original Series that premiered on September 24, 2010. On December 8, 2010, it was announced that the show has been picked up for a second season.^[20]
• In 2011, Simmons starred in "Fit to Fly with Richard Simmons", an Air New Zealand inflight safety briefing video modeled after his aerobic workouts.^[21]

Personal life[link]

Simmons in August 2007

Personality[link]

Simmons is noted for his flamboyant, high-energy, motivational demeanor, an attribute he uses to help encourage people to lose weight. His high energy level is always featured in his workout videos. His trademark attire is candy-striped Dolfin shorts and tank tops decorated with Swarovski crystals.^{[citation needed]}.

Simmons is known for interacting at a personal level with people using his products. This began by personally answering fan mail he received as a cast member of General Hospital. Simmons still personally answers emails and letters, and makes hundreds of phone calls each week to those who seek his help.^[22] He also talked to people on the air during his radio show, and holds weekly live chats in the "clubhouse" area of his website. His appearances also include a "meet and greet" time, so that people can speak to him one on one.^{[citation needed]}

Simmons claims to have few friends, saying "I don't have a lot to offer to one person. I have a lot to offer to a lot of people." Aside from his three Dalmatians and two maids, Simmons lives alone in the Hollywood Hills.^[22] Although there has been frequent speculation about his sexual orientation due to his campy personality, Simmons has never publicly discussed his sexuality.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

Hurricane Katrina response[link]

In September 2005 Simmons was on Entertainment Tonight to discuss the effects of Hurricane Katrina on his family in his hometown of New Orleans and his involvement in aiding those affected by the hurricane. On August 29, 2006 Simmons was on Your World with Neil Cavuto while making a return visit to New Orleans one year after the flooding, a visit he repeated on March 2, 2007, now talking about his recent trip to Washington D.C. to promote and raise awareness about The Strengthening Physical Education Act of 2007 (bill HR 1224).

Print and other media[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Richard Simmons 2006 Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment
• Richard Simmons discusses his physical education campaign with education blogger Kevin Carey
• Richard Simmons audio interview on physical education at Education Week
• Interview with Richard Simmons
• Richard Simmons Pushes to Get Kids Active in School interview with USA Today
• Fitness Guru Takes Message to Congress on NPR

External links[link]

• The official Richard Simmons website
• Richard Simmons is a Diet and Fitness Coach at AOL Coaches
• Richard Simmons at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Simmons talks about how to remain motivated at Lemondrop.com

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (February 2011)

Aubrey Plaza
Plaza at the 2012 Time 100
Birth name	Aubrey Christina Plaza
Born	(1984-06-26) June 26, 1984 (age 28) Wilmington, Delaware, United States
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, improv
Years active	2004–present
Genres	Deadpan
Notable works and roles	April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation Daisy Danby in Funny People Julie Powers in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Website	http://aubreyplaza.tumblr.com/

Aubrey Christina Plaza^[1] (born June 26, 1984)^[2] is an American actress and comedian who has gained popularity through her deadpan-style comedy, and currently co-stars in Parks and Recreation as April Ludgate.

Early life[link]

Plaza was born in Wilmington, Delaware, the daughter of Bernadette, an attorney, and David Plaza, a financial advisor.^[3][4][5] She has two younger sisters, Renee and Natalie,^[3] the latter of whom she uses as inspiration for her teenage character April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation.^[6]

Plaza was named after the song "Aubrey" by Bread.^[3][7] Her father is Puerto Rican and her mother is of Irish and English descent.^[3][8] Plaza has stated: "I was like the only diverse kid in my high school, and I'm half-Puerto Rican. But yeah, I have a huge family and tons of cousins in Puerto Rico."^[6] She participated in productions with the Wilmington Drama League.^[3]

Plaza graduated from Ursuline Academy^[3][9] in 2002, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2006.^[3] While at NYU in 2004, Plaza suffered a stroke that caused temporary paralysis and expressive aphasia, but she has fully recovered.^[3][10]

Career[link]

Plaza has said that she has had many internships and that she "was an intern for Samba Post-Its." One of her jobs was to "literally wallpaper a bathroom with Post-Its." She also worked as an NBC page.

She has been performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater since 2004. She also recently began performing stand-up and has appeared at the Laugh Factory and The Improv. In 2008, she was seen in the Improv Everywhere prank "Mobile Desktop", in which she and two other people brought desktop PCs, including a CRT screen, tower computer, keyboard and mouse into a Starbucks and used them just as people use laptops there.

Plaza starred in the online series The Jeannie Tate Show, and stars as Robin Gibney in ESPN's Mayne Street. She also appeared in the first episode of "Terrible Decisions with Ben Schwartz" on Funny or Die.^[11]

Plaza at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010

She played Seth Rogen's love interest, Daisy, in 2009's Funny People directed by Judd Apatow. She also had roles in the comedy films Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team, which debuted at 2009 Sundance. She appeared in a CollegeHumor short alongside Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.

She plays April Ludgate, the deadpan employee in Parks and Recreation, and has a recurring role as "the Princess" in the comedic sci-fi web series Troopers on CollegeHumor.

On March 12, 2010, Plaza performed at A Night of 140 Tweets: A Celebrity Tweetathon for Haiti, produced by Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer, Ben Stiller, and Mike Rosenstein, at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles.

In 2010 she made a guest appearance in Portlandia.

Plaza appeared as a guest judge during a roast segment on The Next Food Network Star in 2011.

She appeared in Episode 199 of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.

In early 2012, she was featured in Father John Misty(J. Tillman)'s music video for the song "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings", off the album "Fear Fun".

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aubrey Plaza

• Aubrey Plaza at the Internet Movie Database
• Aubrey Plaza Videos - Plaza's video website
• Aubrey Plaza NBC Profile - Profile from Parks and Recreation
• Troopers web series

Mark Duplass
Duplass in October 2011
Born	Mark David Duplass (1976-12-07) 7 December 1976 (age 35) New Orleans, Louisiana, US
Occupation	Film director, Film producer, Writer, Actor, Musician
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Katie Aselton

Mark David Duplass^[1] (born December 7, 1976) is an American film director, film producer, actor, and screenwriter. He is the brother of director and writer Jay Duplass.

Personal life[link]

Duplass was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was raised in a Catholic family,^[2][3] and attended Jesuit High School.

Duplass is married to his co-star on The League, Katie Aselton.^[4] Duplass is considered to be one of the founders of the mumblecore aesthetic. He is also the lead singer of the rock band Volcano, I'm Still Excited!!.

Career[link]

Duplass has written, directed, and produced a number of feature films with his brother Jay Duplass.

In 2005 he wrote and produced The Puffy Chair with his brother, in addition to acting as one of the main characters. According to IMDB, he also directed the film with his brother although he was not credited.^[5]

The two brothers later wrote, directed, and produced the films Baghead (2008) and Cyrus (2010) together^[6] and have a unique style which consists of a great deal of adlibing off of the original script, shooting a number of takes, and editing scenes down 15 to 20 times.^[7] Their film Jeff, Who Lives At Home was released in 2012, and another new movie, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, is scheduled for release in 2012.^[8][9]

Duplass has also acted in a number of other productions.^[10] He currently stars in the FX comedy television series The League, with his wife, Katie Aselton.

Filmography[link]

As director, producer, and writer[link]

^[11]

As actor[link]

^[12]

Awards[link]

• "Best Screenplay for "The Puffy Chair" at the BendFilm Festival

References[link]

External links[link]

• Mark Duplass at the Internet Movie Database
• Rotten Tomatoes Mark Duplass profile page
• Interview with Jay and Mark Duplass on "Baghead" at IFC.com

This article about a United States film director born in the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e