EARLIER this week, in response to soaring temperatures and heat indices, Kathy told me of an app she had found that calculates heat index and risk factors for extreme heat exposure. Called the 'OSHA Heat Safety Tool,' put out by OSHA, the app takes current and forecast high temperatures and relative humidity levels to calculate the index and risk. You can input your own numbers or, if you enable location services on your device, it will pull them from a weather resource (from NOAA, according to app info. In my case, the info was accurate).
Okay, cool. The app contains advice for coping with heat-related stress, for recommended precautions and for measures to be taken in the event of a heat-related illness incident.
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AS OF November 2011, the Android version of the app had apparently been downloaded 5-10,000 times. It is probably safe to assume the app has been downloaded much more often now that summer is here with the super hot weather, but I do not know updated specifics. I do not know when iOS version was released, nor how many times it has been downloaded (such statistics from the App Store are not usually published), but I suspect the numbers are comparatively high for this free app. Tens of thousands of copies, I would suspect. If the Blackberry version is out by now, I do not know it. The OSHA website says ‘update’ to the Blackberry version coming soon, I don’t know whether that means a rudimentary version is out and update coming or if the app is simply not yet available at all on Blackberry.
I downloaded, installed and fired up the app to check it out, it seemed perfectly fine in its concept and functioning. No problem, right? Well, wrong.
I checked app reviews, and it seems this app has become something of a lightning rod for a group of whateverthegovernmentdoesorspendsisshit whiners.
Originally developed for Android devices, the app has been ported to the iPhone/iPad and Blackberry platforms in English AND Spanish. The whiner-in-chief filed a FOA request with the Department of Labor (through Muckrock, which by all accounts is very cool) for information on the cost of developing the app. Over 70% of the reviews of the app in the iTunes app store cite the cost thus obtained in their negative reviews of the app.
As mentioned, 18 of 25 reviewers gave the app very negative reviews (just about all of them were 1 of 5 possible stars, the lowest rating one can give), similarly characterized by very whiny criticism. Here is one example (I cannot link to it directly in app reviews, but, as of the time this was written it was review #9, posted on 3/4/12. Reviewer's name not given, everyone posts under an anonymous handle.)
Without this app, I could get heat stroke every day because not only do I not have heat receptors anywhere in my body, I also don’t possess eyes to check how bright or clear a day is, I also don’t have sweat glands, or a nose to detect humidity. I am surprised I can find my way around my house without the government.
Seriously?! You detect humidity with your nose?! Perhaps we should question whether you don’t need help finding your way around your house after all. How about a brain, do you have one of those? We wouldn’t want to assume ... given there isn’t evidence of it in your post, and you didn't mention it.
The primary whiner’s criticism (I am linking to the whiner’s page primarily for the graphic copy of the FOI response, quoted below, to provide documentation within the diary, not to encourage traffic to the whiner’s page. I tried use the link code provided by the DOL for that, to get my own copy, but it is only valid for 90 days, so, as far as I know, the response is not available independently. I have no reason to believe that the DOL response was redacted or modified from its original condition.) is that the $200,000 OSHA paid for the app is ridiculous government waste, calling it ‘massive waste.’ Hmmm. 0.00000005% ($200,000 divided by $3.8 trillion) of the federal budget. Cause for rending of garments and pulling out of hair. (As you know, no one ever said 0.00000005% here, 0.00000005% there, pretty soon you’re talking REAL MONEY!)
That the government spends sixty BILLION dollars per year to incarcerate 2.2 MILLION human beings is of no concern to them. Over $27,000 per year per inmate. (How many of those would have NEVER been convicted if jobs for them were available at $27,000 per year?!) No conservative ever criticizes a single penny spent for prisons. Billions and billions and billions and they’re as happy as clams, no massive waste claims to be heard. Ever. Despite the incredible opportunities for savings represented in our justice system.
Criticism of the OSHA app is not limited to the creative expense. There is also the suggestion that anyone who NEEDS reminding of the dangers of high heat exposure is an idiot, deserving of whatever consequences she or he experiences (including death, presumably), the old ‘kick the victim when he’s down’ syndrome we are so familiar with from conservatives. The app is stupid (in their view) because everyone should know the dangers and take precautions without being told. They do not say so explicitly in their app criticisms, but it seems they WANT the ‘deserving’ to go ahead and die.
Or that the app was developed by Eastern Research Group, Inc., which is now British-owned. Of course, the company was founded in Cambridge, MA in 1984, is based in 10 locations across the US, even if ownership technically passed to AEA Technology, a UK-based group in 2010. And, all positions being advertised for employment in that company are based in those US locations.
The criticisms about the app in the Apple store reviews whine that the app could have been developed by Americans, it didn’t have to be out-sourced to the UK. Well, the app WAS developed by Americans, apparently, based IN the US, and the funds spent on the development of the app seem to have been spent exclusively in the US. At least, there is no reason to assume otherwise, even if the company is now under British ownership. One commenter claimed s/he could create the app in java and html in 6 hours for $100/hr. Of course, apps for mobile devices have many other additional costs to factor in, inconvenient though that fact may be. padgadget did an article on iPad app costs.
padgadget cites costs for Design, Coding, Testing, Infrastructure, Validation and Project Management. None of those costs could be expected to be exactly cheap. And while the app MAY connect in real time to NOAA for temperature and humidity information, the app may still be used if no Internet connectivity exists, but the information is independently obtainable. It can be useful even when signal is weak or non-existent.
Here is the operative paragraph in OSHA’s response to the FOI request (from the whiner's site, linked above):
Development of the Heat Safety Tool was completed by Eastern Research Group (ERG), inc., of Lexington, Massachusetts. The cost, including conceptualization, requirements analysis, content development, clearance, translation, programming and software design (including coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to interface with their database), testing, accessibility enhancements (for accessibility-enabled smart phones), and documentation for the Android implementation of the application, totals $106,467. Estimates for the additional programming and testing necessary to ensure similar functionality and accessibility across the available iPhone and Blackberry platforms are $56,000 and $40,000 respectively.
Just FYI: The US Govt. in 2009 received 557,825 FOIA requests, which cost taxpayers $382,244,225, or an average of $685 per request. (Info from
here.) That cost to taxpayers does not trouble individuals with a political ax to grind, even if we are paying more to provide that information than they are to receive it.
But it is not all bad. This is one response to the whiners. (Review #7, posted on 4/23/12. Sorry, I cannot read Android reviews, if those are posted.)
Not a single review opining the cost of developing this app has even stopped to consider the benefit of this app, or the cost for people not having this information. Bush took a record surplus and left with a record deficit and borrowed trillions to fight a war on false pretenses. Billionaires not paying an equivalent to middle class Americans costs us billions every year. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Yet, you complain about $200k? And you do do (sic) so with ZERO consideration for the cost effectiveness this could provide in saving businesses in lost time and workers comp, much less the medical cost we all shoulder, and the cost to human life.You contribute nothing worthwhile to the discussion when you ignorantly blast your opinions because you have a political axe to grind.
That said the app appears to be useful and is convenient. It provides useful information to people who don’t know what WBGT or a Heat Stress Exposure TLV is, which is probably most people. It is a convenient tool for workers who work outside and are far more likely to have a smartphone than a computer with Excel. If they had the convenience of doing the calculations on Excel they would be working inside, not outside.
As a professional in the health and safety field, I believe this appears to be a useful tool so far. I also applaud OSHA’s attempt to get this critical information to the people who need it most in a very modern and convenient way. I would recommend employees and supervisors who work outside in hot climates give it a try.
(I transcribed the reviews, as I could not capture the text directly from the app store.)
A more in-depth whine was posted at geekosystem.com. Their columnist bought every single conclusion the whiner-in-chief made without any critical examination of the facts whatsoever. Here is the significant quotation:
While we here at Geekosystem have not downloaded the app, the user reviews aren’t exactly glowing.
Well of course not! Why complicate an article on the app with facts and direct experience, after all, when such a clear (and unopposed!) opportunity for government-bashing is at hand? Again, I have not read reviews of the Android version of the app, but it does not surprise me to hear they are not glowing, as so many there have apparently bought into the ‘government waste’ meme of the original whiner-in-chief, as have 18 of 25 reviewers on the iTunes store. To me it is informative that not ONE of the whiners refuted the arguments of the complimentary reviewer cited above, or even attempted to. No reviewer who did not have a clear political axe to grind gave the app a negative review.
I agree very strongly with the positive reviewer’s point about the purpose of the app - to help prevent heat-related problems, indeed, to save lives! I work for a local municipality, and I know very well how focused everyone here is relative to heat-related dangers. Cautions are discussed or communicated every single day, in addition to meetings and memos and reminders and contingency plans. An app like this allows communication of very specific and detailed risk information. Yes, you would think people would be informed by now, generally, but it does not pay to assume, given that every year people fall prey to heat-related consequences. Yes, if people are thinking clearly, they take the necessary precautions, but one of the consequences of heat-related illness is unclear thinking, slow or non-existent recognition of the magnitude of the problem and possible failure to take timely measures to eliminate the threats posed by extreme heat, both by oneself and with co-workers.
A download of the app does not mean that the downloader lacks confidence in her or his common sense. It can be downloaded for information to be passed on to others. It can be downloaded by persons who don’t normally work outside, but who may engage in recreational activities outside, or who have children who do. Even knowing how many copies of the app have been downloaded does not provide clear data on how many people may ultimately benefit from the information provided by this app. It has the potential to save dozens if not hundreds of lives per year. (To me, if it saves ONE life it is more than worth it!) But what does a life cost? What is a life worth?
Fortunately, wikipedia has addressed the issue for us.
Estimates of the value of life
In the US, the following estimates have been applied to the value of life. The estimates are either for one year of additional life or for the statistical value of a single life.
$50 000 per year of quality life (international standard most private and government-run health insurance plans worldwide use to determine whether to cover a new medical procedure) [5]
$129 000 per year of quality life (based on analysis of kidney dialysis procedures by Stefanos Zenios and colleagues at Stanford Graduate School of Business)[5]
$6.9 million (Environmental Protection Agency)[6]
$7.9 million (Food and Drug Administration)[7]
$6 million (Transportation Department)[7]
$7 million (median value for prime aged workers) [2
How many people die each year from heat? The best statistics I could find were from the CDC, for the 1999-2003 period. Is the earth hotter now? Global warming theories say yes. So it is possible that death totals from the period cited are lower than they are today.
Okay. The CDC statistics cite 3442 heat-related deaths from the 1999-2003 period. That number comes from death certificates across the country, depending on how those deaths were coded in a database. If the coding was not identifiable as heat-related, deaths wouldn’t be counted in the CDC statistics. I do not know if statistics would include non-resident aliens, possibly not. (But thus the value of the app’s availability in Spanish, as well, to help our Hispanic workers who may also be at risk.)
Some heat-illness sites point out that not all heat-related deaths can be identified as such. Other possibilities include deaths attributable to heat, but not identifiably so, for statistical purposes. If someone is heat-impaired while operating or in proximity to dangerous equipment and an accident occurs, fatalities resulting wouldn’t typically be coded as heat-related. But there are many scenarios in which heat-related deaths could occur that would not be included in statistics. It is safe to say that more than 3442 heat-related deaths occurred in that four year time span, over 688 deaths per year.
So, why is there so much interest in a simple heat index app from OSHA? I think it demonstrates the degree to which anti-governmental mania has become truly pathological. They don’t wish to miss a single opportunity to make the case that government does not work, and that any monies given to the government (for any purposes outside of prisons or wars) is completely wasted.
Interestingly, the FOIA request was submitted on August 13, 2011, the reply received from the DOL on 9/27/2011. To me that seems like fairly efficient response, given that the government processes over half a million of these requests per year! Does the government get credit for this efficiency? None at all. In fact, the columnist at geekosystem analyzes it from the opposite perspective.
In his write up, Jones points out that the U.S. Depart of Labor was extremely fast in responding to his FOIA request. One wonders if maybe someone in that office was looking to draw attention to this lousy app, perhaps aiming to prevent future waste.
Right. A DOL FOIA research technician agrees with the same bs assumptions you do. ::shaking head:: And this issue isn’t even about a REAL injustice in our society! Like people without homes or jobs or food or education or medical care or fair treatment.
I only looked this up to begin with because what seems to me to be a useful, decent app was so loaded with a fairly negative rating. Little did I suspect that the rating originated in what may well be a coordinated effort to use app store reviews - of all things! - as a political venue to denigrate and undermine government. I suspect it may be coordinated because though I cannot see the Android app store reviews, it seems they are affected by the same seemingly high percentage hatred of our government. Amazing. Have you all noticed this in similar, seemingly out-of-the-way places?
On to tonight’s comments, very graciously formatted and compiled by TC’s resident MVP, brillig!
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
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not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From bwren just after last night's deadline:
bkamr's talking point rebutting the "Obamacare" naysayers is utterly brilliant and needs to be memorized and used by every one of us on a daily basis.
From ericlewis0:
KAMuston posted a diary about a spot-on Onion article, titled "Republicans, Leukemia Team Up to Repeal Health Care Law". In response to wilderness voice's comment that bacteria and viruses are also joining the fight, agnostic offered this gem.
From Killer of Sacred Cows:
Ashaman explains in four sentences why we can now call the people who can afford insurance, but refuse to buy it, the real "freeloaders."
From Bud Fields:
I'd like to recognize Ginny in CO for this incredibly important and helpful comment in my diary about remembering neighbors and pets during this incredible heatwave.
It seems the comments today were highly focused, for some unexplainable reason, upon Hitlerian references. Then paulitics outed Bert, from Sesame Street as a secret Nazi operative via "compromising photo" which led to the top comment of the day for me by JML9999 in an attempt to mitigate said Bertography.
From BeninSC:
koNko hopes tomorrow's election will bring change that takes Mexico on a less violent path, at least eventually.
And I have to include this comment by pktexas, with the excerpt, below, in the hope you will read and recommend it!
Texas Republicans are like the jobs they want to create - overpriced, not worth much, and hurting the people of Texas. First we need to re-elect Obama and then 2 years later we need to fire all these Republican leeches. I am a 5th generation Texan and my family has seen Republican Scallywags before.
Top Mojo for yesterday, June 29th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic!
1) Hmmm, please have her remind him... by Icicle68 — 290
2) Fucking brilliant. by Kaili Joy Gray — 219
3) Not to nit pick...but you might want to tell folks by 8ackgr0und N015e — 147
4) and by statsone — 143
5) A Republican my wife works with by NMDad — 134
6) Well, maybe not opera. More like by VictorLaszlo — 133
7) I actually got through to one of them, today. by bkamr — 113
8) Here is the story from Kelley: by JanF — 111
9) I took students to Paris by derridog — 105
10) Only one hotel in Woodland Park takes pets. by JanF — 104
11) Ha... by wyvern — 104
12) Please remind this selfish uncaring by sfcouple — 99
13) Democrats work on and talk about governing. by CherryTheTart — 95
14) Yes. by pat of butter in a sea of grits — 94
15) I thought "the wait" by rk2 — 94
16) Savage by politicalrunt — 91
17) blush by Steveningen — 88
18) If kkkonservatives are going to flee anywhere by Troubadour — 87
19) I really do like this guy by yellowdog — 81
20) Truly. by Kaili Joy Gray — 81
21) And I just got my first "that's a personal attack! by Killer of Sacred Cows — 80
22) Opera? Try incitement to riot by Dallasdoc — 77
23) Thanks, weatherdude. by JanF — 76
24) Not everyone agrees. by dance you monster — 75
25) Not to mention- by Lainie — 75
26) I'm not a big Leno fan, but this was great! /nt by Tamar — 74
27) Writing from Rome by SneakySnu — 73
28) This infuriates me. The SAME THING happened to by cany — 72
29) This is it. by illinifan17 — 70
30) Hate radio feeds an addiction by cama2008 — 69
31) Part of the issue with the Red Cross by belinda ridgewood — 69
Top Pictures for yesterday, June 29th. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!