Questions tagged [safety]
The balance of benefit versus harm of an activity, device, technology or substance.
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Were children safer in the good old days?
Edited, as every site I found in my search last night gave me sites that all say the same thing:
The perception is that the world is a really dangerous place for children these days
But the ...
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Were there 18 school shootings in the US from Jan 1 to Feb 14, 2018?
CBC Radio (Canada) reported earlier this evening that the Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School "was the 18th school shooting in the U.S. since the beginning of 2018.".
On its face ...
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Are personal electronics a risk to commercial aviation?
Are personal electronics (of present or recent past; e.g. cell phones, mp3 players, iPads) a risk to commercial air travel? Is the typical request to "turn off all personal electronic devices" based ...
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Does wearing a bicycle helmet make the cyclist safer?
Does wearing a helmet while bicycling make an individual cyclist safer?
That is, in the case of an accident, is one safer wearing an helmet? If yes, are the odds of an accident lower, higher or ...
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Do razors with more blades work better?
A known disposable razor company is claiming on their web site that their current product is superior to their old one because it has 5 blades instead of three.
You can see the claim on the "science" ...
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Were pen cap holes designed to prevent death by suffocation if swallowed?
Someone posted the following trivia on a social media website:
Do you know that pen caps have holes so that if someone swallows a cap, then air could still pass through?
This started a small ...
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Has a virus ever escaped a high-level virus lab "such as the one in Wuhan"?
As somewhat unclearly related in the Daily Mail:
Dr Keusch, Professor of Medicine and International Health at Boston University's Schools of Medicine and Public Health, stressed that no release of ...
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Is it less dangerous to box without gloves than with gloves?
From this YouTube video by Today I Found Out,
Most pertinent here, is that neither boxer would be wearing gloves in such a classic match. As paradoxical as it sounds, boxing without gloves is ...
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Has the time available to escape a house fire decreased significantly due to "modern furniture"?
The Facebook page QI - Quite Interesting has approximately 390 thousand followers. It posted a claim in December 2022 about the time available to escape a house on fire.
It claims a dramatic decrease ...
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Is a woman more likely than a man to be seriously injured in a car crash of similar severity?
This article makes a number of interesting points about the potential dangers faced by women in a world "designed for men", but I want to ask specifically about this claim:
But when a woman ...
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Is drinking raw milk more dangerous than drinking pasteurized milk?
In Australia "raw milk", more commonly known as un-pasteurised milk, is mostly illegal for human consumption, except in one state, I do believe. The consensus appears to be that pasteurising the milk ...
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Is it safe to stand by the windows during a thunderstorm?
There is widespread belief in my culture that we should not stay near door or windows during lightning. So people advise others to stay inside house with doors and windows closed to be safe from ...
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Can you recharge non-rechargeable alkaline batteries?
There are conflicting reports of whether it is possible to safely recharge alkaline batteries (not lithium) that are not sold as rechargable. The packaging for batteries regularly has cautions ...
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Should I cut off black banana ending before eating?
I was always told that I should cut off the black ending of a banana before eating, because it would be dangerous. Sources for this claim can for example be found here (though that source is actually ...
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Does fastening airplane seatbelts reduce the risk of death and injury?
The FAA states
To keep you and your family as safe as possible during flight, FAA
regulations require passengers to be seated with their seat belts
fastened:
When the airplane leaves ...
user17967
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Can you get your legs stuck around a pole, leading to cramping and then death?
I came across this video that makes a series of claims based around a position that a person can apparently get stuck in around a pole, and unintentionally kill themselves:
Hot girl tied to tree with ...
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Are roads more dangerous when it first rains?
From DriversEd.com: Rain:
Slow down at the first sign of rain, drizzle, or snow on the road. This is when many road surfaces are most slippery because moisture mixes with oil and dust that has not ...
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Does the 'two-second rule' provide a valid minimum gap for safe driving?
Most of us will have been taught the two-second rule when learning to drive.
The two-second rule is a rule of thumb by which a driver may maintain a safe following distance at any speed. The rule ...
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Does cutting paper dull a knife quickly? [duplicate]
This question is a follow-up to "How to test the sharpness of a knife?", my answer to it, and the comments my answer generated. Charlie Brumbaugh wanted to know how to tell when he is done when ...
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Are there fewer accidental deaths at nuclear power plants than others?
I have seen the stats on this website saying that the number of death caused by nuclear accidents was way smaller then those caused by any other energy production factory. Do you have any information, ...
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Has anyone died from tampered candy at Halloween?
Year after year parents are bombarded with all of the risks of trick or treating. Razor blades in apples, poisoned candy, etc. Even the CDC warns against eating anything homemade or before a parent ...
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Do cars pass with less space for bicyclists who wear helmets?
This question is an off-shoot of from the discussion about helmet safety. There is an assertion that when a car passes a bicycle, it allows less space to those who wear a helmet than those without. ...
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Is there a risk of drowning if you fall asleep in the bath?
Are there any documented events of people drowning in slippery baths after falling asleep?
I've tried to Google it but wasn't able to find anything. Probably just used wrong terms, or maybe there ...
user288
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Will sticking a knife into a toaster electrocute me?
As a child, do you remember being told not to stick metal utensils into the toaster to unlodge toast? If by chance that utensil touches the wrong thing inside of the toaster, you could be easily ...
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Are chemicals used to ripen fruit in developing countries harmful to the health of consumers?
Note: there are some answers to this question on Chemistry.SE, but I prefer a sceptical approach here.
I ask this question in connection with a post on Facebook (in Indonesia), which asked:
Hi ...
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Does the TSA have a fail rate of 95% in breach tests?
Does the TSA fail at a rate of 95% at detecting (fake, "test") terrorists in breach tests, as reported in this news story? The best information that I have about this is a news report. Is there any ...
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Can defrosting vacuum-packed fish in its packaging cause botulism?
There are many warnings on the Internet about vacuum-sealed frozen fish thawed in its packaging potentially causing botulism:
Why You Should Never Thaw Frozen Fish in Its Vacuum-Sealed Packaging
...
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Does the establishment of a legal upper speed limit on highways lead to a reduction in traffic deaths and accidents?
The conventional wisdom is that established speed limits lead to an increase in safety.
Speed limits are usually set to attempt to cap road traffic speed; there are several reasons for wanting to do ...
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Is it dangerous to use a gas range for heating?
According to the CDC, you should "NEVER use a gas range for heating".
Never use a gas range or oven for heating. Using a gas range or oven for heating can cause a build up of CO inside your ...
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Are safety belts in planes meant for safety?
I was travelling by air today, and I realized that there's an important difference between safety belts in cars and planes. A safety belt in a car moves from the chest on one side to the hip on the ...
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Does home-WiFi expose you to less radiation than using the 3G on your cell-phone?
Are there any studies that compare WiFi and cellular data usage, in the home, over time?
Mainly I've heard that WiFi uses more battery (so it should emit more radiation) but OTOH it feels like 3G/...
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Are 20% of automobile drivers under the influence of marijuana?
An article by Quinton James and Johnkeria Kinglocke titled "The Truth About Marijuana" published on the website of the Hanley Foundation (an anti-drug abuse organization in Florida) claims (...
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How unhealthy are aluminum cooking pans?
It is regularly stated that aluminum cooking pans are unhealthy, but I come accross them very often. I see people cooking both alkaline and acid foods in them, scrape them with metal, leave food ...
user4513
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Are big cars and SUVs safer than small cars or do they just *feel* safer?
I've long observed that many drivers in the UK choose SUVs (which are often disparagingly called Chelsea Tractors) do so at least partially because they believe such cars to be safer. I doubt this ...
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Are slick bicycle tires more slippery in the wet?
I always assumed slick (tread-less) tires were more prone to loss of traction in the wet. That is until I read this answer on the bicycles SE which claims that bicycle tires are too thin, round and ...
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Was there a Soviet anti-motorcycle-helmet campaign in the late 1950s and early 1960s?
Lessig (1995, pp. 964–965) writes:
Before the 1960s, motorcyclists in Soviet Russia did not wear helmets. In part this was because of a lack of any perceived need to wear helmets; in part it was ...
user17967
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Does marijuana impair driving?
Is the use of cannabis/marijuana/THC associated with risks when driving a motor vehicle, similar to impairment from the use of alcohol?
The conclusions of public studies seem inconsistent. For example,...
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Are British plugs safer than all other plugs?
There is a very interesting Youtube Video British Plugs Are Better Than All Other Plugs, And Here's Why that indicates some engineering reasons why the British power plug is safer than for example the ...
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Are bone conduction headphones safer with regards to hearing loss?
In this video, at about 1:35, a claim is made that bone conduction headphones are safer with regards to hearing loss, because the sound doesn't "affect the eardrum".
Is that true? I thought hearing ...
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Is nuclear fusion energy as safe as its proponents claim?
With my limited knowledge of the process of nuclear fusion energy, this seems like one of the most promising methods for producing huge amounts of energy, with relatively very low risk, once ...
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Do green grapes cause more accidents on the London Underground than banana peels?
In Teary Deary's Horrible Histories: London, he claims that green grapes cause more accidents on the London Underground (I presume subway) than banana peels.
This claim is also repeated in several ...
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Does nuclear power cause fewer deaths than other forms of electricity production, accidents included?
There have been several questions related to nuclear power in comparison to other forms of electricity production:
Are there fewer accidental deaths at nuclear power plants than others?
Do coal ...
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Are sharp knives safer to use than dull knives for preparing food when cooking?
There seems to be an agreement that sharp knives are much safer than dull ones when you are cutting vegetables, meat, anything you cut with a chefs knife when you cook and prepare food. The reason for ...
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Is the Kinect IR laser safe?
The Microsoft Kinect uses an IR source (laser or just diode?) to project a pattern in order to get 3D data on what it's looking at. As low-power IR is invisible and intangible, many people have ...
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Is riding with strangers unsafe?
A commonly taught adage is to never accept a ride from a stranger. This applies mostly to children and goes hand in hand with warnings about accepting gifts from strangers.
Now, having grown older, I ...
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Do elderly drivers cause the most accidents?
Has it been statistically or empirically proven that elderly drivers (65 and over) are responsible for more accidents than any other age group?
Some offer figures such as:
In 2001 drivers over 70 ...
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Is 2.4GHz IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) Dangerous? [duplicate]
Over the years, I've heard (and read about) various dubious claims and doubtful allegations regarding the dangers of WiFi & 2.4GHz wireless ISM band communications in general. The stories ...
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Do loud motorcycles prevent accidents?
In my neighbourhood, there is one of these inconsiderate people who has a loud motorcycle. I've already told him that his motorbike wakes me up, and he politely apologizes, but then does nothing about ...
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If I drop my cycle helmet, do I need to buy a new one?
In conversation with my housemate last night he said that if a cycle helmet is dropped, even from a height of a meter or so, onto a hard surface then it needs to be replaced. He said the internal ...
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Is it unhealthy to reuse cooking oil?
I've heard that reusing cooking oil can be unhealthy. For example:
Never re-use cooking oil once it has been exposed to heat. It is a
recipe for trans fats and cancer-causing carcinogens. -Source
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