Personal safety

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Personal safety is the safety of an individual. The emphasis on personal safety is the safety of individual members of society, rather than having the emphasis be on safety of the more abstract public. Traditionally, public safety falls under the role of police whereas the new arena of personal safety often falls under the role of the individual, or various human rights organizations, and the like.

Personal safety can be accomplished primarily by being alert to the risks and by making common sense decisions about how to avoid them, such as avoiding areas of increased risk and staying aware of one's surroundings. Some areas are higher risk than others, but care should still be taken traditionally low-risk areas eg. in upmarket suburbs and in daylight. Risk can never been entirely eliminated, so individuals need strategies in place to deal with an attack should it happen.

A popular belief is that self-defense and hand-to-hand training can be effective tools, not so much to attack the attacker, but to avoid physical advances from the attacker, or to cause the attacker to lose their balance or become disoriented. However, this type of training can give an individual a false sense of security. Fending off an instructor or partner in a local gym can make a person over-confident about their ability to look after themselves in an attack. However, when caught up in a real situation, many people freeze and forget everything they’ve been taught.

Most of this training is taught in an ‘exercise class’ atmosphere, often with participants told to wear comfortable clothes and trainers. However, when you are actually out and about or at work, you are likely to be wearing something different; something which may make it difficult or even impossible to carry out any of the required moves.

Authorities on personal safety advocates the use of a shriek alarm, which aims to shock and disorientate an attacker giving you vital seconds to escape. (ie. the audio equivalent of poking them in the eye or spraying them with pepper spray, which can be used in the US but is illegal in the UK). Even in the US where pepper spray and ‘mace’ can be used, it is important to remember that these will only act as a momentary distraction to the attacker.

An additional method some people recommend to ensure personal safety in the US would be to carry a concealed handgun. Some do not feel comfortable with the idea, or physically become burdened with the weight of carrying a handgun. This is totally illegal in the UK, where it is believed that if you carry anything that might be used to hurt an attacker, it might also be used by the attacker to hurt you.

Even in the US, many limitations apply to the idea of carrying a concealed handgun, as most states require specialized training before being qualified, and must the intended carrier must also pass background criminal checks before a permit is issued.

In the US, Concealed carry is typically regarded as the most effective form of defending one's safety and well being from an attacker.

In the UK, the emphasis is placed firmly on avoiding the risks in the first place.

[edit] Pro-active personal safety

Many personal safety devices include a feature that notifies others if and when a danger condition such as a trip and fall is detected. For example, if more than 10 successive frames of video stay constant, a person may have tripped and fallen, and not merely be standing still (in which case there is still slight change in video from frame to frame). Many PSDs create a network connection, and record evidence as well as plug into a notification algorithm, and notification list (personal safety distribution list) that may include multiple others (such as multiple caregivers) notified under various anomalities.