Статті в журналах з теми "Transportation New South Wales Safety measures"

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the association between home visit programs and emergency preparedness among elderly vulnerable people in New South Wales, Australia. Method: The study used data acquired from an intervention program run by emergency agencies and consisted of 370 older people. Seven emergency outcome measures were examined by adjusting for key demographic factors, using a generalized estimating equation model, to examine the association between home visit programs and emergency preparedness. Results: The study revealed that knowledge demonstrated by participants during visits and post home visits showed significant improvements in the seven emergency outcome measures. The odds of finding out what emergencies might affect one’s area were significantly lower among older participants who were born outside Australia and those who were women. Discussion: The findings suggest that the intervention via home visits and periodic reminders post these visits may be a useful intervention in improving emergency preparedness among older people, especially among men and those who were born outside of Australia. In addition, other reminders such as safety messaging via mobile or landline telephone calls may also be a supplementary and useful intervention to improve emergency preparedness among older people.

In this issue of Pediatrics, we learn about the dangers of travel in the cargo beds of pick-up trucks,1 a problem that is both old and new. Although we may have only recently given this hazard the attention it deserves, the issues surrounding safe travel in pick-up trucks are common to most other injury control problems. This is but the latest example of the challenge encountered when safety measures appear to threaten individual freedom, personal convenience, or economic "reality." In the South, the Southwest, and much of rural America, the pick-up truck is, for many families, the only practical vehicle for both work and family transportation.

Objective The aim of this study was to determine baseline information technology (IT) sophistication in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, residential aged care facilities. Method IT sophistication measures IT capabilities, extent of IT use and IT integration in two domains, resident care and clinical support. A survey was administered to all NSW residential aged care facilities (n = 876) between February and May 2017. A 15% response rate was achieved (130/876). Facilities were organised by organisational type, total residential places and remoteness. Using post-stratification weights, estimates of IT sophistication scores for NSW were determined. Regression was used to examine whether there was a linear relationship between IT sophistication and the ratio of residents receiving high care. Results Participating facilities were similar to other NSW facilities in residential places and remoteness, but different in organisational type. IT sophistication was highest in IT capabilities and integration in resident care. IT sophistication was lowest in clinical support. Respondents had a mean of 1.2 years of IT experience. IT sophistication varied among aged care facilities. There was a linear relationship (P < 0.05) with the proportion of high-care residents and total IT sophistication Conclusion Routine reports of IT sophistication in aged care are not available. If data were available, determining the influence of IT sophistication on the quality care for residential aged care would be possible. What is known about the topic? Aged care settings that deliver care to the older population need to be contemporary in their approach to delivering high-quality and safe care. Health IT holds great potential for improving the quality and safety of care of older residents in aged care facilities. What does this paper add? This report provides a baseline assessment of IT capabilities, extent of IT use and IT integration, called IT sophistication, among aged care facilities with variable characteristics. What are implications for practitioners? Increasing IT sophistication has the potential to improve the quality of care delivered by aged care staff.

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to develop a scale to measure cultural safety in hospitals from an Aboriginal patient perspective. MethodsThe Cultural Safety Survey was designed to measure five key characteristics of cultural safety that contribute to positive hospital experiences among Aboriginal hospital patients. Investigators developed a range of different methods to assess the validity and reliability of the scale using a sample of 316 participants who had attended a New South Wales hospital in the past 12 months. Targeted recruitment was conducted at two hospital sites. Opportunistic recruitment took place through a local health district, discharge follow-up service and online via social media. ResultsThe Cultural Safety Survey Scale was a robust measurement tool that demonstrated a high level of content and construct validity. ConclusionThe Cultural Safety Survey Scale could be a useful tool for measuring cultural safety in hospitals from the Aboriginal patient perspective. What is known about the topic?There are increasing calls by governments around the world for health institutions to enhance the cultural safety of their services as one way of removing access barriers and increasing health equity. However, currently there are no critical indicators or systematic methods of measuring cultural safety from the patient perspective. What does this paper add?The cultural safety scale, an Australian first, presents the first empirically validated tool that measures cultural safety from the Aboriginal patient perspective. What are the implications for practitioners?This measurement model will allow hospitals to measure the cultural safety of their services and ascertain whether current efforts aimed to improve cultural safety are resulting in Aboriginal patients reporting more culturally safe experiences. Over time it is hoped that the tool will be used to benchmark performance and eventually be adopted as a performance measure for hospitals across New South Wales.

Safety is a major motivator of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) projects, and most efforts have addressed the potential to avoid incidents. Managing and reducing the duration of incidents is another key application for ITS despite challenges in distinguishing the true versus the reported duration of an incident. This paper presents a framework for modeling the impact of camera-based (closed-circuit television or CCTV) ITS technology on incident duration including an increase in the reported duration and a reduction in the true duration. The framework is validated against a data set of 121,793 accidents in New South Wales, Australia, covering 4.5 years. The results demonstrate that the use of CCTVs for incident duration contributes a 4.5 min reduction in average duration (as earlier detection can lead to more efficient clearance) and a 9% reduction in variance in the duration (as a uniform detection method supports standardized response procedures). These impacts are only visible when the 8.5 min median detection delay (the difference between the recorded duration and the true duration) is modeled and accounted for. These results offer a quantitative support tool for decision makers wishing to assess the value of incident-detection ITS projects.

Smoking materials are a common ignition source for residential fires. In Australia, reduced fire risk (RFR) cigarettes regulation was implemented in 2010. However, the impact of this regulation on residential fires is unknown. This paper examines the impact of the RFR cigarettes regulation on the severity and health outcomes of fire incidents in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, from 2005 to 2014. Fire department data from 2005 to 2014 were linked with ambulance, emergency department, hospital, outpatient burns clinic and mortality datasets for NSW. Negative binomial regression analysis was performed to assess the changes to fire incidents’ severity pre- and post-RFR cigarettes regulation. There was an 8% reduction in total fire incidents caused by smokers’ materials post-RFR cigarettes regulation. Smokers’ materials fire incidents that damaged both contents and structure of the building, where fire flames extended beyond the room of fire origin, with over AUD 1000 monetary damage loss, decreased by 18, 22 and 12%, respectively. RFR cigarettes regulation as a fire risk mitigation has positively impacted the residential fire incident outcomes. This provides support for regulation of fire risk protective measures and bestows some direction for other fire safety policies and regulations.

IntroductionConsiderable evidence supports an association between poor impulse control (impulsivity) and violent crime. Furthermore, impulsivity and aggression has been associated with reduced levels of serotonergic activity in the brain. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of anti­depressants that aim to regulate brain serotonin concentrations. Several small studies in psychiatric populations have administered SSRIs to impulsive­–aggressive individuals, resulting in reduced impulsivity, anger, aggression and depression. However, no clinical trial has been undertaken in a criminal justice population. This protocol describes the design and implementation of the first systematic study of the potential benefits of SSRIs in impulsive­­–violent offenders who are at high risk of reoffending.Methods and analysisA randomised, double-blinded, multicentre trial to test the clinical efficacy of an SSRI, sertraline hydrochloride, compared with placebo on recidivism and behavioural measures (including impulsivity, anger, aggression, depression and self-reported offending) over 12 months. 460 participants with histories of violence and screening positive for impulsivity are recruited at several local courts and correctional service offices in New South Wales, Australia.Ethics and disseminationResults will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Possible implications of the effectiveness of this pharmacological intervention include economic benefits of reducing prison costs and societal benefits of improving safety. This study has received ethical approval from the University of New South Wales, Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council, Corrective Services NSW and the NSW Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network.Trial registration numberACTRN12613000442707.

Large-scale shark-control programs at popular beaches in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, provide protection against shark attack. Although these programs have enhanced bathing safety, reducing the environmental impacts of decades of fishing for large sharks and the associated by-catch remains a challenge. Over the past three decades, there have been several interventions to reduce such impact in the KZN program. The first was the release of all live sharks, including those species known to be responsible for fatal shark attacks. Measures to reduce catches of sharks associated with the winter influx of shoals of sardines, Sardinops sagax, have been increasingly successful. In addition, extensive removal of nets has resulted in a major reduction in effort. Collectively, these initiatives reduced mortalities of sharks by 64%. Baited lines, termed drumlines, were introduced at 18 beaches, where they replaced some of the nets. The former had a far lower by-catch of rays, turtles and cetaceans and significantly lower catches of certain shark species. Replacement of some nets with drumlines is planned for the remaining beaches. Only two attacks, both non-fatal, have occurred at protected beaches in KZN over the past three decades, indicating that the program has maintained its public safety mandate while it has succeeded in reducing its impact on the environment.

BACKGROUND Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, was converted to a Covid hospital but there was no shutdown or restriction of functioning of routine nonCovid treatment services. Objectives were to study the clinical profile of patients visiting ENT outpatient department during national lockdown period, evaluate the usage of safety practices by patients to protect from Covid-19 infection and determine the proportion of patients using teleconsultation services. METHODS This is a descriptive study. All patients, who attended and / or given dates to visit the ENT outpatient department during study period were included in the study. Data collected was analysed using SPSS software version 25. RESULTS Among patients who visited the outpatient department, 54.3 % were males. Majority belonged to age group of above 40 years. 82 % of old patients on followup could not attend outpatient because of lack of transportation. Majority of new cases were road traffic accidents and acute infections of ear and nose. Although majority had access to treatment from hospitals in their locality, they did not utilise the option. 98 % were aware of COVID-19 infection and were practicing safety precautions. Only 13 patients out of 219 were using the facility of teleconsultation. CONCLUSIONS This study reveals a wide gap in the present method of implementation of referrals to tertiary care. E medicine and teleconsultation services should be encouraged and used effectively. High rate of adoption of the safety measures among the public was another highlight obtained from this study. KEYWORDS Clinical Profile, COVID-19, Government Medical College, National Lockdown, Safety Practices

The emergence of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has revolutionized the infrastructure construction industry by introducing real-time and collaborative information management tools to be used throughout the lifecycle of projects.The importance of BIM in this industry has been emphasized in previous research. However, strategies for the implementation of this system is still less explored, which requires more elaboration and validation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate such strategies considering all necessary dimensions of the BIM system in infrastructure construction projects. The findings are based on theoretical discussion and semi-structured interviews in a case study project in New South Wales, Australia. The results revealed that BIM integrates various elements of infrastructure construction, which include but are not limited to risk, time, cost, energy, safety, and sustainability. It was found that implementation strategies should focus on improving the contribution of the BIM system to infrastructure construction in terms of improved (1) integrity and automation, (2) collaboration, and (3) optimization. Identification of seven technical and managerial implementations strategies is the core contribution of this research. These strategies provide practitioners with insight into technical and managerial measures to be taken for the successful implementation of the BIM system.

IntroductionKnee osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability, resulting in pain and reduced quality of life. Exercise is the cornerstone of conservative management but effects are, at best, moderate. Early evidence suggests that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) may improve the effect of exercise in knee osteoarthritis. This pilot study aims to (1) determine the feasibility, safety and participant-rated response to an intervention adding M1 rTMS to exercise in knee osteoarthritis; (2) elucidate physiological mechanisms in response to the intervention; (3) provide data to conduct a sample size calculation for a fully powered trial.Methods and analysisThis is a pilot randomised, assessor-blind, therapist-blind and participant-blind, sham-controlled trial. Thirty individuals with painful knee osteoarthritis will be recruited and randomly allocated to receive either: (1) active rTMS+exercise or (2) sham rTMS+exercise intervention. Participants will receive 15 min of either active or sham rTMS immediately prior to 30 min of supervised muscle strengthening exercise (2×/week, 6 weeks) and complete unsupervised home exercises. Outcome measures of feasibility, safety, pain, function and physiological mechanisms will be assessed before and/or after the intervention. Feasibility and safety will be analysed using descriptive analysis. Within-group and between-group comparisons of pain and function will be conducted to examine trends of efficacy.Ethics and disseminationThis study has been approved by the University of New South Wales Human Research Ethics Committee (HC210954). All participants will provide written informed consent. The study results will be submitted for peer-reviewed publication.Trial registration numberACTRN12621001712897p.

Introduction. The industrial sector of Russia is the most important segment of the country’s economy. Until the beginning of the 21st century, large chemical enterprises in Russia were focused on the domestic market. There was a so-called supply strategy formed back in the USSR for the Union Socialist republics. The products of the chemical industry were mainly transported by road around the city and to neighboring regions, the main cargo traffic for longer distances was mastered by rail and river transport. Currently, the largest chemical industry enterprise in the Volgograd region, AO Kaustik, is actively exporting to Europe, South America and Asia. To carry out international transportation of the company’s products, hired tractors with semi-trailers that meet all modern standards of environmental safety are used. The interaction of road transport with rail, river, and sea is actively taking place, effective logistics multimodal systems for the delivery of chemical products are being organized. Road and rail transportation of products is organized with Asian countries, with European countries – by road, rail and sea, with South American countries – by sea. Today, the company’s transport carries out international multimodal transportation to the near and far abroad. The issue of improving the efficiency of road transport is relevant. The paper considers the links of the logistics system of transportation of chemical products of the enterprise between the countries, along the routes: Russia – Netherlands and Russia – Kyrgyzstan. The comparison of road and rail transportation by time and cost on Volgograd – Bishkek route is carried out. The full loading of the vehicle with transport packages according to the calculation takes place in compliance with the loads on the axles of the tractor and semi-trailer. Improving the efficiency of transportation depends on the organization of loading and unloading points, customs control points, movement along routes, and the work of drivers. The statistical regularities of the distribution of the execution time of elements and operations in the loading point of the enterprise are investigated. The ways of organizing the work of motor transport drivers on the international Volgograd – Bishkek – Volgograd route are considered, the calculation of the duration of the elements of the transportation process and their cost is presented.Materials and methods. The paper uses methods of statistical and economic analysis of data on the functioning of the chemical industry in the region. Graph-analytical methods are used to form transport packages and ensure that the car is fully loaded. Methods for determining the shortest distances and drawing up routes on the transport network are used. Methods of organizing the work of drivers are used to ensure single and tour work on the international route. The effectiveness of the proposed measures is evaluated by economic methods.Results. It is revealed that the chemical industry of the region has a stable economic situation that allows it to develop new international markets. The links of the multimodal logistics system for the delivery of the company’s products along Volgograd – Bishkek and Volgograd – Netherlands international routes are investigated. Improving the efficiency of transportation depends on the organization of loading and unloading points. A statistical analysis of the elements and stages of the transportation process of caustic soda was carried out. A scheme for placing transport packages with bags of caustic soda in a semi-trailer of a motor vehicle has been developed. International routes of transportation of products of AO Kaustik using road transport have been developed: Volgograd – Bishkek and Volgograd – Netherlands routes. The mode of operation of motor transport when performing international transportation using tour and single organization of drivers’ work is calculated. We recommend a tour trip as the most effective way to organize the work of drivers. Tour riding is recommended as the most effective way of organizing the work of road transport in the organization of international transportation to near and far abroad. The final price of 1 ton of transported products on the Volgograd – Bishkek route has been determined. The effective functioning of road transport in the international logistics system for the delivery of caustic soda allows you to reduce transport time, transport costs and reduce the cost of a unit of production for the end user.Conclusions. The article develops measures to improve the organization of international transportation of products of JSC «Caustic» using road transport. The final price of 1 ton of products in the Bishkek warehouse, taking into account the initial cost of granular caustic soda and transportation costs in the case of organizing a single driver’s ride, will be 83246 rubles/ton, and for tour driving, respectively, 81355 rubles/ton.

Objective. To examine the experiences of occupational violence in general practitioner (GP) and non-GP staff. Further objectives were to compare prevalence of violence in GP and non-GP staff and to examine levels of apprehension and perceptions of control over violence. Design. Cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Setting. A network of research general practices, New South Wales, Australia. Participants. GPs and non-GP staff – receptionist, practice-management, nursing and allied health staff. Main outcome measure(s). Experience of occupational violence during the previous 12 months. Other outcomes examined were workplace apprehension regarding violence, perception of occupational violence as a problem in general practice, and perception of control over violence in the workplace. Results. A total of125 questionnaire replies were received (response rate 55%), 59.3% of GPs and 74.6% of non-GPs had experienced work-related violence during the previous 12 months. The difference was not significant (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.20–2.06). Subjects in rural practices were more likely than those in urban practices to have experienced violence (OR 3.79, 95% CI 1.15–12.5). Personal experience of violence (OR 35.9, 95% CI 6.24–207) and a perception that violence is increasing (OR 8.33, 95% CI 1.89–36.6) were associated with apprehension regarding violence at work. What is known about the topic? The prevalence and impact upon GPs of occupational violence is well established, but occupational violence has been little-researched in non-GP staff. What does this paper add? This study demonstrates that occupational violence is a major issue for non-GP staff – at least as much as it is for GPs. What are the implications for practitioners? Apprehension and fear among general practice staff are strongly associated with experiences of violence and must be addressed at a whole-of-practice level with measures to reduce violence and improve safety.

In this era of startling developments in the medical field there remains a serious worry about the hazardous potential of various by products which if not properly addressed can lead to consequences of immense public concern. Hospitals and other health care facilities generate waste products which are evidently hazardous to all those exposed to its potentially harmful effects. Need for effective legislation ensuring its safe disposal is supposed to be an integral part of any country's health related policy. This issue is of special importance in developing countries like Pakistan which in spite of framing various regulations for safeguarding public health, seem to overlook its actual implementation. The result unfortunately is the price wehave to pay not only in terms of rampant spread of crippling infections but a significant spending of health budget on combating epidemics which could easily have been avoided through effective waste disposal measures in the first place. Waste classified under the heading 'bio-hazardous' includes any infectious or potentially infectious material which can be injurious or harmful to humans and other living organisms. Amongst the many potential sources are the hospitals or other health delivery centres which are ironically supposed to be the centres of infection control and treatment. Whilst working in these setups, health care workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and sanitation workers are actually the ones most exposed and vulnerable to these challenges. Biomedical waste may broadly be classified into Infectious and toxic waste. Infectious waste includes sharps, blood, body fluids and tissues etcwhile substances such as radioactive material and by-products of certain drugs qualify as toxic waste. Furthermore health institutions also have to cater for general municipal waste such as carton boxes, paper and plastics. The World Health Organisation has its own general classification of hospital waste divided into almost eight categories of which almost 15% (10% infectious and 5% toxic) is estimated to be of a hazardous nature while the remaining 85% is general non hazardous content.1A recent study from Faisalabad, Pakistan has estimated hospital waste generation around 1 to 1.5 kg / bed /day for public sector hospitals in the region,2while figures quoted from neighbouring India are approximately 0.5 to 2 KG / hospital bed /day.3 Elsewhere in the world variable daily hospital waste production has been observed ranging from as low as 0.14 to 0.49 kg /day in Korea4 and 0.26 to 0.89 kg/day in Greece5to as high as 2.1 to 3.83 kg/day in Turkey6 and 0.84 to 5.8 kg/day in Tanzania.7Ill effects of improper management of hospital waste can manifest as nosocomial infections or occupational hazards such as needle stick injuries. Pathogens or spores can be borne either through the oro-faecal or respiratory routes in addition to direct inoculation through contact with infected needles or sharps. Environmental pollution can result from improper burning of toxic material leading to emission of dioxins, particulate matter or furans into the air. The habitat can also be affected by illegal dumping and landfills or washing up of medical waste released into the sea or river. Potential organisms implicated in diseases secondary to mismanagement of hospital waste disposal include salmonella, cholera, shigella, helminths, strep pneumonia, measles, tuberculosis, herpesvirus, anthrax, meningitis, HIV, hepatitis and candida etc. These infections can cause a considerable strain on the overall health and finances of the community or individuals affected. The basic principal of Public health management i.e 'prevention is better than cure' cannot be more stressed in this scenario as compared to any other health challenge. Health facilities must have a clear policy on hazardous waste management. To ensure a safe environment hospitals need to adopt and implement international and local systems of waste disposal. Hospital waste management plan entails policy and procedures addressing waste generation, accumulation, handling, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal. Waste needs to be collected in marked containers usually colour coded and leak proof. Segregation at source is of vital importance. The standard practice in many countries is the Basic Three Bin System ie to segregate the waste into RED bags/ boxes for sharps, YELLOW bags for biological waste and BLUE or BLACK ones for general/ municipal waste. All hospital staff needs to be trained in the concept of putting the right waste in relevant containers/ bags. They need to know that more than anything else this practice is vital for their own safety. The message can be reinforced through appropriate labelling on the bins and having posters with simple delineations to avoid mixing of different waste types. Sharps essentially should be kept in rigid, leak and puncture-resistant containers which are tightly lidded and labelled. Regular training sessions for nurses and cleaning staff can be organised as they are the personnel who are more likely to deal with waste disposition at the level of their respective departments. Next of course is transportation of waste products to the storage or disposal. Sanitary staff and janitors must be aware of the basic concepts of waste handling and should wear protective clothing, masks and gloves etc, besides ensuring regular practice of disinfection and sterilization techniques.8Special trolleys or vehicles exclusively designed and reserved for biomedical waste and operated by trained individuals should be used for transportation to the dumping or treatment site. Biomedical waste treatment whether on site or off site is a specialised entity involving use of chemicals and equipment intended for curtailing the hazardous potential of the material at hand. Thermal treatment via incinerators, not only results in combustion of organic substances but the final product in the form of non-toxicash is only 10 to 15% of the original solid mass of waste material fed to the machine. Dedicated autoclaves and microwaves can also be used for the purpose of disinfection. Chemicals such as bleach, sodium hydroxides, chlorine dioxide and sodiumhypochlorite are also effective disinfectants having specialised indications. Countries around the world have their own regulations for waste management. United Kingdom practices strict observance of Environmental protection act 1990, Waste managementlicensing regulations 1994 and Hazardous waste regulations 2005 making it one of thesafest countries in terms of hazardous waste disposal. Similar regulations specific for each state have been adopted in United States following passage of the Medical Waste tracking act 1988. In Pakistan, every hospital must comply with the Waste Management Rules 2005 (Environment Protection Act 1997), though actual compliance is far from satisfactory. It is high time that the government and responsible community organisations shape up to seriously tackle the issue of bio hazardous waste management through enforcement of effective policies and standard operating procedures for safeguarding the health and lives of the public in general and health workers in particular. Outbreaks, defined as excess cases of a particular disease or illness which outweighs the response capabilities, have the capacity to overwhelm health care facilities and need timely response and attention to details in order to avoid potentially disastrous sequelae . In this day and age when improvement in public health practices have significantly curtailed outbreak of various diseases, certain viral illnesses continue to make headlines. One of the notable vector borne infectious disease affecting significant portions of south east Asia in the early part of twenty first century is 'Dengue fever'. Dreaded as it is by those suffering from the illness, a lot of the hysteria created is secondary to a lack of education and understanding of the nature of the disease and at times a result of disinformation campaign for vested interests by certain political and media sections.'Dengue' in fact is a Spanish word, assumed to have originated from the Swahili phrase -ka dinga peppo -which describes the disease as being caused by evil spirit. 1 Over the course of time it has been called 'breakbone fever', 'bilious vomiting fever', 'break heart fever', 'dandy fever', 'la dengue' and 'Phillipine, Thai and Singapore hemorrhagic fever' Whilst the first reported case referring to dengue fever as a water poison spread by flying insects, exists in the Chinese medical encyclopedia from Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD), the disease is believed to have disseminated from Africa with the spread of the primary vector, aedes egypti, in the 15th to 19th century as a result of globalisation of slave trade 45In 80% of the patients affected by this condition the presentation is rather insidious and at best characterized by mild fever. The classical 'Dengue fever' present in about 5% of the cases is characterized by high temperature, body aches, vomiting and at times a skin rash. The disease may regresses in two to seven days. However inrare instances (<5%) it may develop into more serious conditions such as Dengue hemorrhagic fever whereby the platelet count is significantly reduced leading to bleeding tendencies and may even culminate in a more life threatening presentation i.e Dengue shock syndrome.6To understand the actual dynamics of Dengue epidemic it is important to understand the mode of its spread in affected areas. Aedes mosquito (significantly Aedes Egypti) acts a vector for this disease. Early morning and evening times7 are favoured by these mosquitos to feed on their prey. There is some evidence that the disease may be transmitted via blood products and organ donation. 8 Moreover vertical transmission (mother to child) has also been reported 9Diagnostic investigations include blood antigen detection through NS-I or nucleic acid detection via PCR. IO Cell cultures and specific serology may also be used for confirming the underlying disease. Whilst sporadic and endemic cases are part of routine medical practice and may not raise any alarm bells, outbreaks certainly need mobilization of appropriate resources for effective control. Needless to say 'prevention is better than cure' and should be the primary target of the health authorities in devising strategies for disease control.The WHO recommended 'Integrated Vector control programme', lays stress on social mobilisation and strengthening of public health bodies, coherent response of health and related departments and effective capacity building of relevant personnel and organisations as well as the community at risk. For Aedes Egypti the primary control revolves around eliminating its habitats such as open sources of water. In a local perspective in our city Peshawar, venue of the recent dengue epidemic, it may be seen in the form of incidental reservoirs such as receptacles and tyres dumped in open areas such as roof tops with rain water accumulating in them and provtdjng excellent breeding habitats, Larvicidal and insecticides may be added to more permanent sources such as watertanks and farm lands. There is not much of a role for spraying with organophosphorous agents which is at times resorted to for public consumption. Public education is the key to any effective strategy which must highlight the need for wearing clothing that fully covers the skin, avoiding unnecessary early morning and evening exposure to vector agents, application of insect repellents and use of mosquito nets. It is also important not to panic if affliction with the disease is suspected as in a vast majority of instances it is a self limiting illness without any long term harmful effects and needs simple conservative management like antipyretics and analgesics.An important consideration for responsible authorities in a dengue epidemic is to ensure that maximum management facilities for simple cases are provided at the community level through primary and secondary health care facilities and that the tertiary care hospitals are not inundated with all sort of patients demanding consultation. These later facilities should be reserved for those patients who end up with any complications or more severe manifestation of the disease.Research is underway to develop an ideal vaccine for Dengue fever. In 2016, a vaccine by the name 'Dengvaxia' was marketed in Phillipines and Indonesia. However with development of new serotypes of the virus, its efficacy has been somewhat compromised.As for treatment , there are no specific antiviral drugs. Management is symptomatic revolving mainly around oral and intravenous hydration. Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) is used for fever as compared to NSAIDS such as Ibuprophen infusion as well as blood and platelet transfusion.Data to date shows that slightly more than twenty three thousand people have been diagnosed with dengue over the past three months ie August to October there is a lower risk of bleeding with the former. Those with more severe form of the disease may need Dextran 2017, in Peshawar, Pakistan with around fourteen thousand needing admission and about sixty nine recorded deaths. The mortality is well within the acceptable international standards of less than 1% for the disease. In the backdrop of all the debate surrounding the current epidemic, one can infer that such outbreaks are best addressed with effective planningwell ahead of the time before the disease threatens to spiral out of control. Simple measures such as covering water storage facilities, using larvicidals where practical, use of insect repellents, mosquito nets and avoiding unnecessary exposure can offerthe best protection. Public health messages via print and electronic media can help educate people in affected areas and allay any anxiety building up from a fear of developing life threatening complications. Health department must mobilise all its resources to ensure local management of diagnosed patients with simple dengue fever and facilitate hospital admission only for those suffering from more severe form of the disease. Moreover the media hype into such situations needs to be addressed through constant updates and discouraging any negative politicking on the issue. To sum up Dengue fever is not really an affliction to be dreaded provided it is viewed and managed in the right perspective.

In this era of startling developments in the medical field there remains a serious worry about the hazardous potential of various by products which if not properly addressed can lead to consequences of immense public concern. Hospitals and other health care facilities generate waste products which are evidently hazardous to all those exposed to its potentially harmful effects. Need for effective legislation ensuring its safe disposal is supposed to be an integral part of any country's health related policy. This issue is of special importance in developing countries like Pakistan which in spite of framing various regulations for safeguarding public health, seem to overlook its actual implementation. The result unfortunately is the price wehave to pay not only in terms of rampant spread of crippling infections but a significant spending of health budget on combating epidemics which could easily have been avoided through effective waste disposal measures in the first place. Waste classified under the heading 'bio-hazardous' includes any infectious or potentially infectious material which can be injurious or harmful to humans and other living organisms. Amongst the many potential sources are the hospitals or other health delivery centres which are ironically supposed to be the centres of infection control and treatment. Whilst working in these setups, health care workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and sanitation workers are actually the ones most exposed and vulnerable to these challenges. Biomedical waste may broadly be classified into Infectious and toxic waste. Infectious waste includes sharps, blood, body fluids and tissues etcwhile substances such as radioactive material and by-products of certain drugs qualify as toxic waste. Furthermore health institutions also have to cater for general municipal waste such as carton boxes, paper and plastics. The World Health Organisation has its own general classification of hospital waste divided into almost eight categories of which almost 15% (10% infectious and 5% toxic) is estimated to be of a hazardous nature while the remaining 85% is general non hazardous content.1A recent study from Faisalabad, Pakistan has estimated hospital waste generation around 1 to 1.5 kg / bed /day for public sector hospitals in the region,2while figures quoted from neighbouring India are approximately 0.5 to 2 KG / hospital bed /day.3 Elsewhere in the world variable daily hospital waste production has been observed ranging from as low as 0.14 to 0.49 kg /day in Korea4 and 0.26 to 0.89 kg/day in Greece5to as high as 2.1 to 3.83 kg/day in Turkey6 and 0.84 to 5.8 kg/day in Tanzania.7Ill effects of improper management of hospital waste can manifest as nosocomial infections or occupational hazards such as needle stick injuries. Pathogens or spores can be borne either through the oro-faecal or respiratory routes in addition to direct inoculation through contact with infected needles or sharps. Environmental pollution can result from improper burning of toxic material leading to emission of dioxins, particulate matter or furans into the air. The habitat can also be affected by illegal dumping and landfills or washing up of medical waste released into the sea or river. Potential organisms implicated in diseases secondary to mismanagement of hospital waste disposal include salmonella, cholera, shigella, helminths, strep pneumonia, measles, tuberculosis, herpesvirus, anthrax, meningitis, HIV, hepatitis and candida etc. These infections can cause a considerable strain on the overall health and finances of the community or individuals affected. The basic principal of Public health management i.e 'prevention is better than cure' cannot be more stressed in this scenario as compared to any other health challenge. Health facilities must have a clear policy on hazardous waste management. To ensure a safe environment hospitals need to adopt and implement international and local systems of waste disposal. Hospital waste management plan entails policy and procedures addressing waste generation, accumulation, handling, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal. Waste needs to be collected in marked containers usually colour coded and leak proof. Segregation at source is of vital importance. The standard practice in many countries is the Basic Three Bin System ie to segregate the waste into RED bags/ boxes for sharps, YELLOW bags for biological waste and BLUE or BLACK ones for general/ municipal waste. All hospital staff needs to be trained in the concept of putting the right waste in relevant containers/ bags. They need to know that more than anything else this practice is vital for their own safety. The message can be reinforced through appropriate labelling on the bins and having posters with simple delineations to avoid mixing of different waste types. Sharps essentially should be kept in rigid, leak and puncture-resistant containers which are tightly lidded and labelled. Regular training sessions for nurses and cleaning staff can be organised as they are the personnel who are more likely to deal with waste disposition at the level of their respective departments. Next of course is transportation of waste products to the storage or disposal. Sanitary staff and janitors must be aware of the basic concepts of waste handling and should wear protective clothing, masks and gloves etc, besides ensuring regular practice of disinfection and sterilization techniques.8Special trolleys or vehicles exclusively designed and reserved for biomedical waste and operated by trained individuals should be used for transportation to the dumping or treatment site. Biomedical waste treatment whether on site or off site is a specialised entity involving use of chemicals and equipment intended for curtailing the hazardous potential of the material at hand. Thermal treatment via incinerators, not only results in combustion of organic substances but the final product in the form of non-toxicash is only 10 to 15% of the original solid mass of waste material fed to the machine. Dedicated autoclaves and microwaves can also be used for the purpose of disinfection. Chemicals such as bleach, sodium hydroxides, chlorine dioxide and sodiumhypochlorite are also effective disinfectants having specialised indications. Countries around the world have their own regulations for waste management. United Kingdom practices strict observance of Environmental protection act 1990, Waste managementlicensing regulations 1994 and Hazardous waste regulations 2005 making it one of thesafest countries in terms of hazardous waste disposal. Similar regulations specific for each state have been adopted in United States following passage of the Medical Waste tracking act 1988. In Pakistan, every hospital must comply with the Waste Management Rules 2005 (Environment Protection Act 1997), though actual compliance is far from satisfactory. It is high time that the government and responsible community organisations shape up to seriously tackle the issue of bio hazardous waste management through enforcement of effective policies and standard operating procedures for safeguarding the health and lives of the public in general and health workers in particular. Outbreaks, defined as excess cases of a particular disease or illness which outweighs the response capabilities, have the capacity to overwhelm health care facilities and need timely response and attention to details in order to avoid potentially disastrous sequelae . In this day and age when improvement in public health practices have significantly curtailed outbreak of various diseases, certain viral illnesses continue to make headlines. One of the notable vector borne infectious disease affecting significant portions of south east Asia in the early part of twenty first century is 'Dengue fever'. Dreaded as it is by those suffering from the illness, a lot of the hysteria created is secondary to a lack of education and understanding of the nature of the disease and at times a result of disinformation campaign for vested interests by certain political and media sections.'Dengue' in fact is a Spanish word, assumed to have originated from the Swahili phrase -ka dinga peppo -which describes the disease as being caused by evil spirit. 1 Over the course of time it has been called 'breakbone fever', 'bilious vomiting fever', 'break heart fever', 'dandy fever', 'la dengue' and 'Phillipine, Thai and Singapore hemorrhagic fever' Whilst the first reported case referring to dengue fever as a water poison spread by flying insects, exists in the Chinese medical encyclopedia from Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD), the disease is believed to have disseminated from Africa with the spread of the primary vector, aedes egypti, in the 15th to 19th century as a result of globalisation of slave trade 45In 80% of the patients affected by this condition the presentation is rather insidious and at best characterized by mild fever. The classical 'Dengue fever' present in about 5% of the cases is characterized by high temperature, body aches, vomiting and at times a skin rash. The disease may regresses in two to seven days. However inrare instances (<5%) it may develop into more serious conditions such as Dengue hemorrhagic fever whereby the platelet count is significantly reduced leading to bleeding tendencies and may even culminate in a more life threatening presentation i.e Dengue shock syndrome.6To understand the actual dynamics of Dengue epidemic it is important to understand the mode of its spread in affected areas. Aedes mosquito (significantly Aedes Egypti) acts a vector for this disease. Early morning and evening times7 are favoured by these mosquitos to feed on their prey. There is some evidence that the disease may be transmitted via blood products and organ donation. 8 Moreover vertical transmission (mother to child) has also been reported 9Diagnostic investigations include blood antigen detection through NS-I or nucleic acid detection via PCR. IO Cell cultures and specific serology may also be used for confirming the underlying disease. Whilst sporadic and endemic cases are part of routine medical practice and may not raise any alarm bells, outbreaks certainly need mobilization of appropriate resources for effective control. Needless to say 'prevention is better than cure' and should be the primary target of the health authorities in devising strategies for disease control.The WHO recommended 'Integrated Vector control programme', lays stress on social mobilisation and strengthening of public health bodies, coherent response of health and related departments and effective capacity building of relevant personnel and organisations as well as the community at risk. For Aedes Egypti the primary control revolves around eliminating its habitats such as open sources of water. In a local perspective in our city Peshawar, venue of the recent dengue epidemic, it may be seen in the form of incidental reservoirs such as receptacles and tyres dumped in open areas such as roof tops with rain water accumulating in them and provtdjng excellent breeding habitats, Larvicidal and insecticides may be added to more permanent sources such as watertanks and farm lands. There is not much of a role for spraying with organophosphorous agents which is at times resorted to for public consumption. Public education is the key to any effective strategy which must highlight the need for wearing clothing that fully covers the skin, avoiding unnecessary early morning and evening exposure to vector agents, application of insect repellents and use of mosquito nets. It is also important not to panic if affliction with the disease is suspected as in a vast majority of instances it is a self limiting illness without any long term harmful effects and needs simple conservative management like antipyretics and analgesics.An important consideration for responsible authorities in a dengue epidemic is to ensure that maximum management facilities for simple cases are provided at the community level through primary and secondary health care facilities and that the tertiary care hospitals are not inundated with all sort of patients demanding consultation. These later facilities should be reserved for those patients who end up with any complications or more severe manifestation of the disease.Research is underway to develop an ideal vaccine for Dengue fever. In 2016, a vaccine by the name 'Dengvaxia' was marketed in Phillipines and Indonesia. However with development of new serotypes of the virus, its efficacy has been somewhat compromised.As for treatment , there are no specific antiviral drugs. Management is symptomatic revolving mainly around oral and intravenous hydration. Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) is used for fever as compared to NSAIDS such as Ibuprophen infusion as well as blood and platelet transfusion.Data to date shows that slightly more than twenty three thousand people have been diagnosed with dengue over the past three months ie August to October there is a lower risk of bleeding with the former. Those with more severe form of the disease may need Dextran 2017, in Peshawar, Pakistan with around fourteen thousand needing admission and about sixty nine recorded deaths. The mortality is well within the acceptable international standards of less than 1% for the disease. In the backdrop of all the debate surrounding the current epidemic, one can infer that such outbreaks are best addressed with effective planningwell ahead of the time before the disease threatens to spiral out of control. Simple measures such as covering water storage facilities, using larvicidals where practical, use of insect repellents, mosquito nets and avoiding unnecessary exposure can offerthe best protection. Public health messages via print and electronic media can help educate people in affected areas and allay any anxiety building up from a fear of developing life threatening complications. Health department must mobilise all its resources to ensure local management of diagnosed patients with simple dengue fever and facilitate hospital admission only for those suffering from more severe form of the disease. Moreover the media hype into such situations needs to be addressed through constant updates and discouraging any negative politicking on the issue. To sum up Dengue fever is not really an affliction to be dreaded provided it is viewed and managed in the right perspective.

This article considers the legal status of protest rights in Australia during the COVID-19 public health crisis. It discusses jurisprudence of the New South Wales Supreme Court regarding the legality of mass gatherings for the purpose of protest during the COVID pandemic. Balancing protest rights with risks to community safety posed by possible coronavirus transmission at public assemblies, the Court has sometimes allowed and sometimes prohibited protests. The article critically examines the policing of protest during the pandemic and explores some of the implications of comparing emergency measures introduced during the COVID crisis with similar measures introduced in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Based on the data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of injuries and fatalities caused by falls from height (FFH) accidents at construction sites is one of the highest making the construction industry relatively unsafe compared to other industries. This study has been made to find out the causes, consequences, and probabilities of construction fall incidents in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The Bowtie (BT) diagram will be used to illustrate various accident situations in order to evaluate the risk of FFH in NSW, as it has not been used in previous studies. The BT diagram, which is made up of a fault tree (FT) and an event tree, represents the logical interconnections between the causes and consequences of the accidents (ET). FTs are used to calculate the odds of different accident situations. The ET analysis is then used to assess the various outcomes of these accidents, as well as their probabilities. Following that, the schematic modeling will be entered into GeNIe software for results validation, and sensitivity analysis will be used to find the main contributor of FFH incidents. The outcome will aid in the prevention of particular incidents and increase the overall level of safety on construction sites. Based on the data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of injuries and fatalities caused by falls from height (FFH) accidents at construction sites is one of the highest, making the construction industry relatively unsafe compared to other industries. This study has been made to find out the most common causes, probabilities, and appropriate mitigation measures in construction fall incidents in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The findings obtained from NSW Construction Blitz in 2019 was used to analyze the probability of the common potential causes of falling from ladders, voids and edges, scaffolds, formworks and, mobile scaffolds and fall restraints. Five fault tree (FT) diagrams were used to illustrate various accident causes in order to determine the probability of risk of FFH in NSW. Following that, a schematic modeling was entered into Genie software for results validation and to determine the main contributor of FFH incidents. From this study, falling from voids and edges has the highest likelihood of falls in NSW with a probability of 27.15%. This is followed by falling from mobile scaffolds and fall restraints with 7.92%, which is closely followed by falling from scaffolds with 7.68%. While falling from ladders and falling from formworks were not too far behind, with 2.17% and 1.05% respectively. Preventative measures were then discussed for FFH accident scenarios. These findings will aid in the prevention of particular incidents and increase the overall level of safety on construction sites in NSW.

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic challenged all healthcare providers including dental practitioners. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the dental practitioners’ perceptions and attitudes towards the impacts of COVID-19 on their professional practice, career decision and patient care. Methods Data was collected from dental practitioners registered in New South Wales (NSW), Australia using an online survey. Results and conclusion Responses received from 206 dental practitioners revealed their perceptions and attitudes towards COVID-19 infection risk, clinical guidelines, and measures adopted to deliver patient care. Majority of participants perceived the risk of infection in dentistry was higher compared with other health professionals. Most dental practices have followed guidelines received from professional associations and adopted multiple measures such as providing hand sanitizer, social distancing, and risk screen, to ensure safe delivery of oral health care. Over 80% of dental practitioners raised concerns on patients’ accessibility to dental care during the pandemic. Despite tele-dentistry was introduced, almost half of the participants did not recognize tele-dentistry as an effective alternative. Moreover, negative impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on dental practitioner’s professional career have been reported, including lower practice safety, reduction in working hours and income. Noteworthy, one quarter of participants even considered changing their practice environment, moving sectors or even leaving their career in dentistry. However, majority of the dental practitioners are willing to stay in their current practice environment and continue their career in dentistry. Our observations demonstrate the systematic disruption to dental practice faced in Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing dental practitioners with timely educational training and support is important to minimise negative impacts of the challenges and to optimise dental care.

Abstract Background Care pathways are generally paper-based and can cause communication failures between multidisciplinary teams, potentially compromising the safety of the patient. Computerized care pathways may facilitate better communication between clinical teams. This study aimed to investigate whether an electronic care pathway (e-pathway) reduces delays in surgery and hospital length of stay compared to a traditional paper-based care pathway (control) in hip fracture patients. Methods A single-centre evaluation with a retrospective control group was conducted in the Orthogeriatric Ward, Nepean Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. We enrolled patients aged > 65 years that were hospitalized for a hip fracture in 2008 (control group) and 2012 (e-pathway group). The e-pathway provided the essential steps in the care of patients with hip fracture, including examinations and treatment to be carried out. Main outcome measures were delay in surgery and hospital length of stay; secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and discharge location. Results A total of 181 patients were enrolled in the study (129 control; 54 e-pathway group). There was a significant reduction in delay to surgery in the e-pathway group compared to control group in unadjusted (OR = 0.19; CI 0.09–0.39; p < 0.001) and adjusted (OR = 0.22; CI 0.10–0.49; p < 0.001) models. There were no significant differences between groups for length of stay (median 11 vs 12 days; p = 0.567), in-hospital mortality (1 vs 7 participants; p = 0.206) or discharge location (p = 0.206). Conclusions This pilot study suggests that, compared to a paper-based care pathway, implementation of an e-pathway for hip fracture patients results in a reduction in total number of delays to surgery, but not hospital length of stay. Further evaluation is warranted using a larger cohort investigating both clinical and patient-reported outcome measures.

Pipelines are important methods of oil and gas transportation and are fundamental to many country’s economies. Pipeline safety is a critical issue; over 96% of pipeline accidents due to ground movement are caused by slope hazards and these can lead to serious personnel and property losses. Therefore, effective pipeline slope hazard monitoring and early warning is crucial, but there are many limitations to existing measures. The recent advance in remote sensing technologies enables the collection of slope hazards information that maps the spatial distribution of landslide. But this approach cannot provide real-time monitoring and early warning as there is a time lag due to image processing. Also, pipelines are considered separately from the slope hazard, with only slope event occurrence assessed rather than quantification of the impact of the hazard on the pipeline. Here, we report on a whole process risk management system for the pipeline slope hazard, incorporating monitoring and early warning of pipeline slope hazards. Three sites at risk of slope hazard on the Guangdong Dapeng Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Company pipeline in Guandong, South China - Zhangmutou, Huoshaogang and Dapeng New District - were selected for research and implementation of the whole process risk management, monitoring and early warning system. The system is shown to operate well and, overall, we found that the three sites are relatively stable at present. This research provides widely applicable guidance for the prevention, control, and early warning of pipeline slope hazards.

If the home is traditionally considered to be a space of safety associated with the warm and cosy feeling of the familial hearth, it is also continuously portrayed as a space under threat from the outside from which we must secure ourselves and our families. Securing the home entails a series of material, discursive and performative strategies, a host of precautionary measures aimed at regulating and ultimately producing security. When I was eleven my family returned home from the local fruit markets to find our house had been ransacked. Clothes were strewn across the floor, electrical appliances were missing and my parents’ collection of jewellery – wedding rings and heirlooms – had been stolen. Few things remained untouched and the very thought of someone else’s hands going through our personal belongings made our home feel tainted. My parents were understandably distraught. As Filipino immigrants to Australia the heirlooms were not only expensive assets from both sides of my family, but also signifiers of our homeland. Added to their despair was the fact that this was our first house – we had rented prior to that. During the police interviews, we discovered that our area, Sydney’s Western suburbs, was considered ‘high-risk’ and we were advised to install security. In their panic my parents began securing their home. Grills were installed on every window. Each external wooden door was reinforced by a metal security door. Movement detectors were installed at the front of the house, which were set to blind intruders with floodlights. Even if an intruder could enter the back through a window a metal grill security door was waiting between the backroom and the kitchen to stop them from getting to our bedrooms. In short, through a series of transformations our house was made into a residential fortress. Yet home security had its own dangers. A series of rules and regulations were drilled into me ‘in case of an emergency’: know where your keys are in case of a fire so that you can get out; remember the phone numbers for an emergency and the work numbers of your parents; never let a stranger into the house; and if you need to speak to a stranger only open the inside door but leave the security screen locked. Thus, for my Filipino-migrant family in the 1990s, a whole series of defensive behaviours and preventative strategies were produced and disseminated inside and around the home to regulate security risks. Such “local knowledges” were used to reinforce the architectural manifestations of security at the same time that they were a response to the invasion of security systems into our house that created a new set of potential dangers. This article highlights “the interplay of material and symbolic geographies of home” (Blunt and Varley 4), focusing on the relation between urban fears circulating around and within the home and the spatial practices used to negotiate such fears. In exploring home security systems it extends the exemplary analysis of home technologies already begun in Lynn Spigel’s reading of the ‘smart home’ (381-408). In a similar vein, David Morley’s analysis of mediated domesticity shows how communications technology has reconfigured the inside and outside to the extent that television actually challenges the physical boundary that “protects the privacy and solidarity of the home from the flux and threat of the outside world” (87). Television here serves as a passage in which the threat of the outside is reframed as news or entertainment for family viewing. I take this as a point of departure to consider the ways that this mediated fear unfolds in the technology of our homes. Following Brian Massumi, I read the home as “a node in a circulatory network of many dimensions (each corresponding to a technology of transmission)” (85). For Massumi, the home is an event-space at the crossroads of media technologies and political technologies. “In spite of the locks on the door, the event-space of the home must be seen as one characterized by a very loose regime of passage” (85). The ‘locked door’ is not only a boundary marker that defines the inside from the outside but another technology that leads us outside the home into other domains of inquiry: the proliferation of security technologies and the mundane, fearful intimacies of the home. In this context, we should heed Iris Marion Young’s injunction to feminist critics that the home does provide some positives including a sense of privacy and the space to build relationships and identities. Yet, as Colomina argues, the traditional domestic ideal “can only be produced by engaging the home in combat” (20). If, as Colomina’s comment suggests, ontological security is at least partially dependent on physical security, then this article explores the ontological effects of our home security systems. Houses at War: Targeting the Family As Beatriz Colomina reminds us, in times of war we leave our homelands to do battle on the front line, but battle lines are also being drawn in our homes. Drawing inspiration from Virilio’s claim that contemporary war takes place without fighting, Colomina’s article ‘Domesticity at War’ contemplates the domestic interior as a “battlefield” (15). The house, she writes, is “a mechanism within a war where the differences between defense [sic] and attack have become blurred” (17). According to the Home Security Precautions, New South Wales, October 1999 report conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 47% of NSW dwellings were ‘secure’ (meaning that they either had a burglar alarm, or all entry points were secured or they were inside a security block) while only 9% of NSW households had no home security devices present (Smith 3). In a similar report for Western Australia conducted in October 2004, an estimated 71% of WA households had window security of some sort (screens, locks or shutters) while 67% had deadlocks on at least one external door (4). An estimated 27% had a security alarm installed while almost half (49%) had sensor lights (Hubbard 4-5). This growing sense of insecurity means big business for those selling security products and services. By the end of June 1999, there were 1,714 businesses in Australia’s security services industry generating $1,395 million of income during 1998-99 financial year (McLennan 3; see also Macken). This survey did not include locksmith services or the companies dealing with alarm manufacturing, wholesaling or installing. While Colomina’s article focuses on the “war with weather” and the attempts to control environmental conditions inside the home through what she calls “counterdomesticity” (20), her conceptualisation of the house as a “military weapon” (17) provides a useful tool for thinking the relation between the home, architecture and security. Conceiving of the house as a military weapon might seem like a stretch, but we should recall that the rhetoric of war has already leaked into the everyday. One hears of the ‘war on drugs’ and the ‘war on crime’ in the media. ‘War’ is the everyday condition of our urban jungles (see also Diken and Lausten) and in order to survive, let alone feel secure, one must be able to defend one’s family and home. Take, for example, Signal Security’s website. One finds a panel on the left-hand side of the screen to all webpages devoted to “Residential Products”. Two circular images are used in the panel with one photograph overlapping the other. In the top circle, a white nuclear family (stereotypical mum, dad and two kids), dressed in pristine white clothing bare their white teeth to the internet surfer. Underneath this photo is another photograph in which an arm clad in a black leather jacket emerges through a smashed window. In the foreground a black-gloved hand manipulates a lock, while a black balaclava masks an unrecognisable face through the broken glass. The effect of their proximity produces a violent juxtaposition in which the burglar visually intrudes on the family’s domestic bliss. The panel stages a struggle between white and black, good and bad, family and individual, security and insecurity, recognisability and unidentifiability. It thus codifies the loving, knowable family as the domestic space of security against the selfish, unidentifiable intruder (presumed not to have a family) as the primary reason for insecurity in the family home – and no doubt to inspire the consumption of security products. Advertisements of security products thus articulate the family home as a fragile innocence constantly vulnerable from the outside. From a feminist perspective, this image of the family goes against the findings of the National Homicide Monitoring Program, which shows that 57% of the women killed in Australia between 2004 and 2005 were killed by an intimate partner while 17% were killed by a family member (Mouzos and Houliaras 20). If, on the one hand, the family home is targeted by criminals, on the other, it has emerged as a primary site for security advertising eager to exploit the growing sense of insecurity – the family as a target market. The military concepts of ‘target’ and ‘targeting’ have shifted into the benign discourse of strategic advertising. As Dora Epstein writes, “We arm our buildings to arm ourselves from the intrusion of a public fluidity, and thus our buildings, our architectures of fortification, send a very clear message: ‘avoid this place or protect yourself’” (1997: 139). Epstein’s reference to ‘architectures of fortification’ reminds us that the desire to create security through the built environment has a long history. Nan Ellin has argued that fear’s physical manifestation can be found in the formation of towns from antiquity to the Renaissance. In this sense, towns and cities are always already a response to the fear of foreign invaders (Ellin 13; see also Diken and Lausten 291). This fear of the outsider is most obviously manifested in the creation of physical walls. Yet fortification is also an effect of spatial allusions produced by the configuration of space, as exemplified in Fiske, Hodge and Turner’s semiotic reading of a suburban Australian display home without a fence. While the lack of a fence might suggest openness, they suggest that the manicured lawn is flat so “that eyes can pass easily over it – and smooth – so that feet will not presume to” (30). Since the front garden is best viewed from the street it is clearly a message for the outside, but it also signifies “private property” (30). Space is both organised and lived, in such a way that it becomes a medium of communication to passers-by and would-be intruders. What emerges in this semiotic reading is a way of thinking about space as defensible, as organised in a way that space can begin to defend itself. The Problematic of Defensible Space The incorporation of military architecture into civil architecture is most evident in home security. By security I mean the material systems (from locks to electronic alarms) and precautionary practices (locking the door) used to protect spaces, both of which are enabled by a way of imagining space in terms of risk and vulnerability. I read Oscar Newman’s 1972 Defensible Space as outlining the problematic of spatial security. Indeed, it was around that period that the problematic of crime prevention through urban design received increasing attention in Western architectural discourse (see Jeffery). Newman’s book examines how spaces can be used to reinforce human control over residential environments, producing what he calls ‘defensible space.’ In Newman’s definition, defensible space is a model for residential environments which inhibits crime by creating the physical expression of a social fabric that defends itself. All the different elements which combine to make a defensible space have a common goal – an environment in which latent territoriality and sense of community in the inhabitants can be translated into responsibility for ensuring a safe, productive, and well-maintained living space (3). Through clever design space begins to defend itself. I read Newman’s book as presenting the contemporary problematic of spatialised security: how to structure space so as to increase control; how to organise architecture so as to foster territorialism; how to encourage territorial control through amplifying surveillance. The production of defensible space entails moving away from what he calls the ‘compositional approach’ to architecture, which sees buildings as separate from their environments, and the ‘organic approach’ to architecture, in which the building and its grounds are organically interrelated (Newman 60). In this approach Newman proposes a number of changes to space: firstly, spaces need to be multiplied (one no longer has a simple public/private binary, but also semi-private and semi-public spaces); secondly, these spaces must be hierarchised (moving from public to semi-public to semi-private to private); thirdly, within this hierarchy spaces can also be striated using symbolic or material boundaries between the different types of spaces. Furthermore, spaces must be designed to increase surveillance: use smaller corridors serving smaller sets of families (69-71); incorporate amenities in “defined zones of influence” (70); use L-shaped buildings as opposed to rectangles (84); use windows on the sides of buildings to reveal the fire escape from outside (90). As he puts it, the subdivision of housing projects into “small, recognisable and comprehensible-at-a-glance enclaves is a further contributor to improving the visual surveillance mechanism” (1000). Finally, Newman lays out the principle of spatial juxtaposition: consider the building/street interface (positioning of doors and windows to maximise surveillance); consider building/building interface (e.g. build residential apartments next to ‘safer’ commercial, industrial, institutional and entertainment facilities) (109-12). In short, Newman’s book effectively redefines residential space in terms of territorial zones of control. Such zones of influence are the products of the interaction between architectural forms and environment, which are not reducible to the intent of the architect (68). Thus, in attempting to respond to the exigencies of the moment – the problem of urban crime, the cost of housing – Newman maps out residential space in what Foucault might have called a ‘micro-physics of power’. During the mid-1970s through to the 1980s a number of publications aimed at the average householder are printed in the UK and Australia. Apart from trade publishing (Bunting), The UK Design Council released two small publications (Barty, White and Burall; Design Council) while in Australia the Department of Housing and Construction released a home safety publication, which contained a small section on security, and the Australian Institute of Criminology published a small volume entitled Designing out Crime: Crime prevention through environmental design (Geason and Wilson). While Newman emphasised the responsibility of architects and urban planners, in these publications the general concerns of defensible space are relocated in the ‘average homeowner’. Citing crime statistics on burglary and vandalism, these publications incite their readers to take action, turning the homeowner into a citizen-soldier. The householder, whether he likes it or not, is already in a struggle. The urban jungle must be understood in terms of “the principles of warfare” (Bunting 7), in which everyday homes become bodies needing protection through suitable architectural armour. Through a series of maps and drawings and statistics, the average residential home is transformed into a series of points of vulnerability. Home space is re-inscribed as a series of points of entry/access and lines of sight. Simultaneously, through lists of ‘dos and don’ts’ a set of precautionary behaviours is inculcated into the readers. Principles of security begin codifying the home space, disciplining the spatial practices of the intimate, regulating the access and mobility of the family and guests. The Architectural Nervous System Nowadays we see a wild, almost excessive, proliferation of security products available to the ‘security conscious homeowner’. We are no longer simply dealing with security devices designed to block – such as locks, bolts and fasteners. The electronic revolution has aided the production of security devices that are increasingly more specialised and more difficult to manipulate, which paradoxically makes it more difficult for the security consumer to understand. Detection systems now include continuous wiring, knock-out bars, vibration detectors, breaking glass detectors, pressure mats, underground pressure detectors and fibre optic signalling. Audible alarm systems have been upgraded to wire-free intruder alarms, visual alarms, telephone warning devices, access control and closed circuit television and are supported by uninterruptible power supplies and control panels (see Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers 19-39). The whole house is literally re-routed as a series of relays in an electronic grid. If the house as a security risk is defined in terms of points of vulnerability, alarm systems take these points as potential points of contact. Relays running through floors, doors and windows can be triggered by pressure, sound or dislocation. We see a proliferation of sensors: switching sensors, infra-red sensors, ultrasonic sensors, microwave radar sensors, microwave fence sensors and microphonic sensors (see Walker). The increasing diversification of security products attests to the sheer scale of these architectural/engineering changes to our everyday architecture. In our fear of crime we have produced increasingly more complex security products for the home, thus complexifying the spaces we somehow inherently feel should be ‘simple’. I suggest that whereas previous devices merely reinforced certain architectural or engineering aspects of the home, contemporary security products actually constitute the home as a feeling, architectural body capable of being affected. This recalls notions of a sensuous architecture and bodily metaphors within architectural discourse (see Thomsen; Puglini). It is not simply our fears that lead us to secure our homes through technology, but through our fears we come to invest our housing architecture with a nervous system capable of fearing for itself. Our eyes and ears become detection systems while our screams are echoed in building alarms. Body organs are deterritorialised from the human body and reterritorialised on contemporary residential architecture, while our senses are extended through modern security technologies. The vulnerable body of the family home has become a feeling body conscious of its own vulnerability. It is less about the physical expression of fear, as Nan Ellin has put it, than about how building materialities become capable of fearing for themselves. What we have now are residential houses that are capable of being more fully mobilised in this urban war. Family homes become bodies that scan the darkness for the slightest movements, bodies that scream at the slightest possibility of danger. They are bodies that whisper to each other: a house can recognise an intrusion and relay a warning to a security station, informing security personnel without the occupants of that house knowing. They are the newly produced victims of an urban war. Our homes are the event-spaces in which mediated fear unfolds into an architectural nervous system. If media plug our homes into one set of relations between ideologies, representations and fear, then the architectural nervous system plugs that back into a different set of relations between capital, fear and the electronic grid. The home is less an endpoint of broadcast media than a node in an electronic network, a larger nervous system that encompasses the globe. It is a network that plugs architectural nervous systems into city electronic grids into mediated subjectivities into military technologies and back again, allowing fear to be disseminated and extended, replayed and spliced into the most banal aspects of our domestic lives. References Barty, Euan, David White, and Paul Burall. Safety and Security in the Home. London: The Design Council, 1980. Blunt, Alison, and Ann Varley. “Introduction: Geographies of Home.” Cultural Geographies 11.1 (2004): 3-6. Bunting, James. The Protection of Property against Crime. Folkestone: Bailey Brothers & Sinfen, 1975. Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers. Security Engineering. London: CIBSE, 1991. Colomina, Beatriz. “Domesticity at War.” Assemblage 16 (1991): 14-41. Department of Housing and Construction. Safety in and around the Home. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1981. Design Council. The Design Centre Guide to Domestic Safety and Security. London: Design Council, 1976. Diken, Bülent, and Carsten Bagge Lausten. “Zones of Indistinction: Security and Terror, and Bare Life.” Space and Culture 5.3 (2002): 290-307. Ellin, Nan. “Shelter from the Storm or Form Follows Fear and Vice Versa.” Architecture of Fear. Ed. Nan Ellin. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1997. Epstein, Dora. “Abject Terror: A Story of Fear, Sex, and Architecture.” Architecture of Fear. Ed. Nan Ellin. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1997. Fiske, John, Bob Hodge, and Graeme Turner. Myths of Oz: Reading Australian Popular Culture. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1987. Geason, Susan, and Paul Wilson. Designing Out Crime: Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989. Hubbard, Alan. Home Safety and Security, Western Australia. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005. Jeffery, C. Ray. Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. Beverley Hills: Sage, 1971. Macken, Julie. “Why Aren’t We Happier?” Australian Financial Review 26 Nov. 1999: 26. Mallory, Keith, and Arvid Ottar. Architecture of Aggression: A History of Military Architecture in North West Europe, 1900-1945. Hampshire: Architectural Press, 1973. Massumi, Brian. Parables of the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002. McLennan, W. Security Services, Australia, 1998-99. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2000. Morley, David. Home Territories: Media, Mobility and Identity. London and New York: Routledge, 2000. Mouzos, Jenny, and Tina Houliaras. Homicide in Australia: 2004-05 National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) Annual Report. Research and Public Policy Series 72. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2006. Newman, Oscar. Defensible Space: Crime Prevention through Urban Design. New York: Collier, 1973. Puglini, Luigi. HyperArchitecture: Space in the Electronic Age. Basel: Bikhäuser, 1999. Signal Security. 13 January 2007 http://www.signalsecurity.com.au/securitysystems.htm>. Smith, Geoff. Home Security Precautions, New South Wales, October 1999. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2000. Spigel, Lynn. Welcome to the Dreamhouse: Popular Media and Postwar Suburbs. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001. Thomsen, Christian W. Sensuous Architecture: The Art of Erotic Building. Munich and New York: Prestel, 1998. Walker, Philip. Electronic Security Systems: Better Ways to Crime Prevention. London: Butterworths, 1983. Young, Iris Marion. “House and Home: Feminist Variations on a Theme.” Feminist Interpretations of Martin Heidegger. Eds. Nancy J. Holland and Patricia Huntington. University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State UP, 2001. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Caluya, Gilbert. "The Architectural Nervous System: Home, Fear, Insecurity." M/C Journal 10.4 (2007). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/05-caluya.php>. APA Style Caluya, G. (Aug. 2007) "The Architectural Nervous System: Home, Fear, Insecurity," M/C Journal, 10(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/05-caluya.php>.

There is a moment in Al Gore’s 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth devised to expose the sheer audacity of fossil fuel lobby groups in the United States. In their attempts to address significant scientific consensus and growing public concern over climate change, these groups are resorting to what Gore’s film suggests are grotesque distortions of fact. A particular example highlighted in the film is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CPE—a lobby group funded by ExxonMobil) “pro” energy industry advertisement: “Carbon dioxide”, the ad states. “They call it pollution, we call it life.” While on the one hand employing rhetoric against the “inconvenient truth” that carbon dioxide emissions are ratcheting up the Earth’s temperature, these advertisements also pose a question – though perhaps unintended – that is worth addressing. Where does life reside? This is not an issue of essentialism, but relates to the claims, materials and technologies through which life as a political object emerges. The danger of entertaining the vested interests of polluting industry in a discussion of climate change and its biopolitics is countered by an imperative to acknowledge the ways in which multiple positions in the climate change debate invoke and appeal to ‘life’ as the bottom line, or inviolable interest, of their political, social or economic work. In doing so, other questions come to the fore that a politics of climate change framed in terms of moral positions or competing values will tend to overlook. These questions concern the manifold practices of life that constitute the contemporary terrain of the political, and the actors and instruments put in this employ. Who speaks for life? And who or what produces it? Climate change as a matter of concern (Latour) has gathered and generated a host of experts, communities, narratives and technical devices all invested in the administration of life. It is, as Malcom Bull argues, “the paradigmatic issue of the new politics,” a politics which “draws people towards the public realm and makes life itself subject to the caprices of state and market” (2). This paper seeks to highlight the politics of life that have emerged around climate change as a public issue. It will argue that these politics appear in incremental and multiple ways that situate an array of actors and interests as active in both contesting and generating the terms of life: what life is and how we come to know it. This way of thinking about climate change debates opposes a prevalent moralistic framework that reads the practices and discourses of debate in terms of oppositional positions alone. While sympathies may flow in varying directions, especially when it comes to such a highly charged and massively consequential issue as climate change, there is little insight to be had from charging the CPE (for example) with manipulating consumers, or misrepresenting well-known facts. Where new and more productive understandings open up is in relation to the fields through which these gathering actors play out their claims to the project of life. These fields, from the state, to the corporation, to the domestic sphere, reveal a complex network of strategies and devices that seek to secure life in constantly renovated terms. Life Politics Biopolitical scholarship in the wake of Foucault has challenged life as a pre-given uncritical category, and sought to highlight the means through which it is put under question and constituted through varying and composing assemblages of practitioners and practices. Such work regards the project of human well-being as highly complex and technical, and has undertaken to document this empirically through close attention to the everyday ecologies in which humans are enmeshed. This is a political and theoretical project in itself, situating political processes in micro, as well as macro, registers, including daily life as a site of (self) management and governance. Rabinow and Rose refer to biopolitical circuits that draw together and inter-relate the multiple sites and scales operative in the administration of life. These involve not just technologies, rationalities and regimes of authority and control, but also politics “from below” in the form of rights claims and community formation and agitation (198). Active in these circuits, too, are corporate and non-state interests for whom the pursuit of maximising life’s qualities and capabilities has become a concern through which “market relations and shareholder value” are negotiated (Rabinow and Rose 211). As many biopolitical scholars argue, biopower—the strategies through which biopolitics are enacted—is characteristic of the “disciplinary neo-liberalism” that has come to define the modern state, and through which the conduct of conduct is practiced (Di Muzio 305). Foucault’s concept of governmentality describes the devolution of state-based disciplinarity and sovereignty to a host of non-state actors, rationalities and strategies of governing, including the self-managing subject, not in opposition to the state, but contributing to its form. According to Bratich, Packer and McCarthy, everyday life is thus “saturated with governmental techniques” (18) in which we are all enrolled. Unlike regimes of biopolitics identified with what Agamben terms “thanopolitics”—the exercise of biopower “which ultimately rests on the power of some to threaten the death of others” (Rabinow and Rose 198), such as the Nazi’s National Socialism and other eugenic campaigns—governmental arts in the service of “vitalist” biopolitics (Rose 1) are increasingly diffused amongst all those with an “interest” in sustaining life, from organisations to individuals. The integration of techniques of self-governance which ask the individual to work on themselves and their own dispositions with State functions has broadened the base by which life is governed, and foregrounded an unsettled terrain of life claims. Rose argues that medical science is at the forefront of these contemporary biopolitics, and to this effect “has […] been fully engaged in the ethical questions of how we should live—of what kinds of creatures we are, of the kinds of obligations that we have to ourselves and to others, of the kinds of techniques we can and should use to improve ourselves” (20). Asking individuals to self-identify through their medical histories and bodily specificities, medical cultures are also shaping new political arrangements, as communities connected by shared genetics or physical conditions, for instance, emerge, evolve and agitate according to the latest medical knowledge. Yet it is not just medicine that provokes ethical work and new political forms. The environment is a key site for life politics that entails a multi-faceted discourse of obligations and entitlements, across fields and scales of engagement. Calculating Environments In line with neo-liberal logic, environmental discourse concerned with ameliorating climate change has increasingly focused upon the individual as an agent of self-monitoring, to both facilitate government agendas at a distance, and to “self-fashion” in the mode of the autonomous subject, securing against external risks (Ong 501). Climate change is commonly represented as such a risk, to both human and non-human life. A recent letter published by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in two leading British medical journals, named climate change as the “biggest global health threat of the twenty-first century” (Morton). As I have argued elsewhere (Potter), security is central to dominant cultures of environmental governance in the West; these cultures tie sustainability goals to various and interrelated regimes of monitoring which attach to concepts of what Clark and Stevenson call “the good ecological citizen” (238). Citizenship is thus practiced through strategies of governmentality which call on individuals to invest not just in their own well-being, but in the broader project of life. Calculation is a primary technique through which modern environmental governance is enacted; calculative strategies are seen to mediate risk, according to Foucault, and consequently to “assure living” (Elden 575). Rationalised schemes for self-monitoring are proliferating under climate change and the project of environmentalism more broadly, something which critics of neo-liberalism have identified as symptomatic of the privatisation of politics that liberal governmentality has fostered. As we have seen in Australia, an evolving policy emphasis on individual practices and the domestic sphere as crucial sites of environmental action – for instance, the introduction of domestic water restrictions, and the phasing out of energy-inefficient light bulbs in the home—provides a leading discourse of ethico-political responsibility. The rise of carbon dioxide counting is symptomatic of this culture, and indicates the distributed fields of life management in contemporary governmentality. Carbon dioxide, as the CPE is keen to point out, is crucial to life, but it is also—in too large an amount—a force of destruction. Its management, in vitalist terms, is thus established as an effort to protect life in the face of death. The concept of “carbon footprinting” has been promoted by governments, NGOs, industry and individuals as a way of securing this goal, and a host of calculative techniques and strategies are employed to this end, across a spectrum of activities and contexts all framed in the interests of life. The footprinting measure seeks to secure living via self-policed limits, which also—in classic biopolitical form—shift previously private practices into a public realm of count-ability and accountability. The carbon footprint, like its associates the ecological footprint and the water footprint, has developed as a multi-faceted tool of citizenship beyond the traditional boundaries of the state. Suggesting an ecological conception of territory and of our relationships and responsibilities to this, the footprint, as a measure of resource use and emissions relative to the Earth’s capacities to absorb these, calculates and visualises the “specific qualities” (Elden 575) that, in a spatialised understanding of security, constitute and define this territory. The carbon footprint’s relatively simple remit of measuring carbon emissions per unit of assessment—be that the individual, the corporation, or the nation—belies the ways in which life is formatted and produced through its calculations. A tangled set of devices, practices and discourses is employed to make carbon and thus life calculable and manageable. Treading Lightly The old environmental adage to “tread lightly upon the Earth” has been literalised in the metaphor of the footprint, which attempts both to symbolise environmental practice and to directly translate data in order to meaningfully communicate necessary boundaries for our living. The World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report 2008 exemplifies the growing popularity of the footprint as a political and poetic hook: speaking in terms of our “ecological overshoot,” and the move from “ecological credit to ecological deficit”, the report urges an attendance to our “global footprint” which “now exceeds the world’s capacity to regenerate by about 30 per cent” (1). Angela Crombie’s A Lighter Footprint, an instruction manual for sustainable living, is one of a host of media through which individuals are educated in modes of footprint calculation and management. She presents a range of techniques, including carbon offsetting, shifting to sustainable modes of transport, eating and buying differently, recycling and conserving water, to mediate our carbon dioxide output, and to “show […] politicians how easy it is” (13). Governments however, need no persuading from citizens that carbon calculation is an exercise to be harnessed. As governments around the world move (slowly) to address climate change, policies that instrumentalise carbon dioxide emission and reduction via an auditing of credits and deficits have come to the fore—for example, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme and the Chicago Climate Exchange. In Australia, we have the currently-under-debate Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, a part of which is the Australian Emissions Trading Scheme (AETS) that will introduce a system of “carbon credits” and trading in a market-based model of supply and demand. This initiative will put a price on carbon dioxide emissions, and cap the amount of emissions any one polluter can produce without purchasing further credits. In readiness for the scheme, business initiatives are forming to take advantage of this new carbon market. Industries in carbon auditing and off-setting services are consolidating; hectares of trees, already active in the carbon sequestration market, are being cultivated as “carbon sinks” and key sites of compliance for polluters under the AETS. Governments are also planning to turn their tracts of forested public land into carbon credits worth billions of dollars (Arup 7). The attachment of emission measures to goods and services requires a range of calculative experts, and the implementation of new marketing and branding strategies, aimed at conveying the carbon “health” of a product. The introduction of “food mile” labelling (the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in the transportation of the food from source to consumer) in certain supermarkets in the United Kingdom is an example of this. Carbon risk analysis and management programs are being introduced across businesses in readiness for the forthcoming “carbon economy”. As one flyer selling “a suite of carbon related services” explains, “early action will give you the edge in understanding and mitigating the risks, and puts you in a prime position to capitalise on the rewards” (MGI Business Solutions Worldwide). In addition, lobby groups are working to ensure exclusions from or the free allocation of permits within the proposed AETS, with degrees of compulsion applied to different industries – the Federal Government, for instance, will provide a $3.9 billion compensation package for the electric power sector when the AETS commences, to enable their “adjustment” to this carbon regime. Performing Life Noortje Mares provides a further means of thinking through the politics of life in the context of climate change by complicating the distinction between public and private interest. Her study of “green living experiments” describes the rise of carbon calculation in the home in recent years, and the implementation of technologies such as the smart electricity meter that provides a constantly updating display of data relating to amounts and cost of energy consumed and the carbon dioxide emitted in the routines of domestic life. Her research tracks the entry of these personal calculative regimes into public life via internet forums such as blogs, where individuals notate or discuss their experiences of pursing low-carbon lifestyles. On the one hand, these calculative practices of living and their public representation can be read as evidencing the pervasive neo-liberal governmentality at work in contemporary environmental practice, where individuals are encouraged to scrupulously monitor their domestic cultures. The rise of auditing as a technology of self, and more broadly as a technique of public accountability, has come under fire for its “immunity-granting role” (Charkiewicz 79), where internal audits become substituted for external compliance and regulation. Mares challenges this reading, however, by demonstrating the ways in which green living experiments “transform everyday material practices into practices of public involvement” that (118) don’t resolve or pin down relations between the individual, the non-human environment, and the social, or reveal a mappable flow of actions and effects between the public realm and the home. The empirical modes of publicity that these individuals employ, “the careful recording of measurements and the reliable descriptions of sensory observation, so as to enable ‘virtual witnessing’ by wider audiences”, open up to much more complex understandings than one of calculative self-discipline at work. As “instrument[s] of public involvement” (120), the experiments that Mares describe locate the politics of life in the embodied socio-material entanglements of the domestic sphere, in arrangements of humans and non-human technologies. Such arrangements, she suggests, are ontologically productive in that they introduce “not only new knowledge, but also new entities […] to society” (119), and as such these experiments and the modes of calculation they employ become active in the composition of reality. Recent work in economic sociology and cultural studies has similarly contended that calculation, far from either a naturalised or thoroughly abstract process, relies upon a host of devices, relations, and techniques: that is, as Gay Hawkins explains, calculative processes “have to be enacted” (108). Environmental governmentality in the service of securing life is a networked practice that draws in a host of actors, not a top-down imposition. The institution of carbon economies and carbon emissions as a new register of public accountability, brings alternative ways to calculate the world into being, and consequently re-calibrates life as it emerges from these heterogeneous arrangements. All That Gathers Latour writes that we come to know a matter of concern by all the things that gather around it (Latour). This includes the human, as well as the non-human actors, policies, practices and technologies that are put to work in the making of our realities. Climate change is routinely represented as a threat to life, with predicted (and occurring) species extinction, growing numbers of climate change refugees, dispossessed from uninhabitable lands, and the rise of diseases and extreme weather scenarios that put human life in peril. There is no doubt, of course, that climate change does mean death for some: indeed, there are thanopolitical overtones in inequitable relations between the fall-out of impacts from major polluting nations on poorer countries, or those much more susceptible to rising sea levels. Biosocial equity, as Bull points out, is a “matter of being equally alive and equally dead” (2). Yet in the biopolitical project of assuring living, life is burgeoning around the problem of climate change. The critique of neo-liberalism as a blanketing system that subjects all aspects of life to market logic, and in which the cynical techniques of industry seek to appropriate ethico-political stances for their own material ends, are insufficient responses to what is actually unfolding in the messy terrain of climate change and its biopolitics. What this paper has attempted to show is that there is no particular purchase on life that can be had by any one actor who gathers around this concern. Varying interests, ambitions, and intentions, without moral hierarchy, stake their claim in life as a constantly constituting site in which they participate, and from this perspective, the ways in which we understand life to be both produced and managed expand. This is to refuse either an opposition or a conflation between the market and nature, or the market and life. It is also to argue that we cannot essentialise human-ness in the climate change debate. For while human relations with animals, plants and weathers may make us what we are, so too do our relations with (in a much less romantic view) non-human things, technologies, schemes, and even markets—from carbon auditing services, to the label on a tin on the supermarket shelf. As these intersect and entangle, the project of life, in the new politics of climate change, is far from straightforward. References An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Village Roadshow, 2006. Arup, Tom. “Victoria Makes Enormous Carbon Stocktake in Bid for Offset Billions.” The Age 24 Sep. 2009: 7. Bratich, Jack Z., Jeremy Packer, and Cameron McCarthy. “Governing the Present.” Foucault, Cultural Studies and Governmentality. Ed. Bratich, Packer and McCarthy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003. 3-21. Bull, Malcolm. “Globalization and Biopolitics.” New Left Review 45 (2007): 12 May 2009 . < http://newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2675 >. Charkiewicz, Ewa. “Corporations, the UN and Neo-liberal Bio-politics.” Development 48.1 (2005): 75-83. Clark, Nigel, and Nick Stevenson. “Care in a Time of Catastrophe: Citizenship, Community and the Ecological Imagination.” Journal of Human Rights 2.2 (2003): 235-246. Crombie, Angela. A Lighter Footprint: A Practical Guide to Minimising Your Impact on the Planet. Carlton North, Vic.: Scribe, 2007. Di Muzio, Tim. “Governing Global Slums: The Biopolitics of Target 11.” Global Governance. 14.3 (2008): 305-326. Elden, Stuart. “Governmentality, Calculation and Territory.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 25 (2007): 562-580. Hawkins, Gay. The Ethics of Waste: How We Relate to Rubbish. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2006. Latour, Bruno. “Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam?: From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern.” Critical Inquiry 30.2 (2004): 225-248. Mares, Noortje. “Testing Powers of Engagement: Green Living Experiments, the Ontological Turn and the Undoability and Involvement.” European Journal of Social Theory 12.1 (2009): 117-133. MGI Business Solutions Worldwide. “Carbon News.” Adelaide. 2 Aug. 2009. Ong, Aihwa. “Mutations in Citizenship.” Theory, Culture and Society 23.2-3 (2006): 499-505. Potter, Emily. “Footprints in the Mallee: Climate Change, Sustaining Communities, and the Nature of Place.” Landscapes and Learning: Place Studies in a Global World. Ed. Margaret Somerville, Kerith Power and Phoenix de Carteret. Sense Publishers. Forthcoming. Rabinow, Paul, and Nikolas Rose. “Biopower Today.” Biosocieties 1 (2006): 195-217. Rose, Nikolas. “The Politics of Life Itself.” Theory, Culture and Society 18.6 (2001): 1-30. World Wildlife Fund. Living Planet Report 2008. Switzerland, 2008.