I once read a safety article (tongue-in-cheek I believe) that said that the
safety industry was weaking the species by allowing the weak and feable to
continue exist and procreate. I believe that this was directed toward the
mentally weak and feable (read stoopid).
By warning them about things that generally intellegient people would know were
hazardous, this "special" group would reproduce and create even more "special"
people. Ultimately, the "special" people would out number the others to such an
extent that homosapiens would face extinction.
One of the assumptions was that these "special" people, through their routine
actions, would eliminate most of the other people through collateral damage.
(e.g. drunk drivers, cell phone drivers, equipment operators, greedy managers
with only the bottom line in mind (otherwise known as bottom feeders))
Well, it has gotten to the point, as Tania has so elegantly pointed out, that
the safety profession only facilitates this; but the legal and political system
now rewards being "special" (again read stoopid). Not only do we protect them
and allow them to procreate, we pay them large sums of money to those "special"
people for being so "special".
"Tania Grant" <taniagrant%msn....@interlock.lexmark.com> on 05/18/2001 09:11:49
PM
Please respond to "Tania Grant" <taniagrant%msn....@interlock.lexmark.com>
To: "Gary McInturff"
<gary.mcinturff%worldwidepackets....@interlock.lexmark.com>, "'Michael
Mertinooke'" <mertinooke%skyskan....@interlock.lexmark.com>,
woods%sensormatic....@interlock.lexmark.com,
emc-pstc%majordomo.ieee....@interlock.lexmark.com
cc: (bcc: Oscar Overton/Lex/Lexmark)
Subject: Re: Public Health and Safety Signs - Tomfoolery so delete if you
Gary,
Kudos to you for trying;-- but I think you are confusing your metaphors. And
you can't equate logic with brainless juries or judges. And you know better
than to rely on warning labels for safety protection!
1. It is assumed that "intelligent" people will make intelligent choices when
opening a bottle with Warning labels that state the content can do you in.
2. It is assumed that a nursing baby, while potentially intelligent, does not
have the capability to make any choices whatsoever as to what she is consuming.
3. It is assumed that a lactating mother has a direct effect on the well being
of her baby.
4. Therefore, the mother is the responsible party for any adverse effects the
baby may suffer due to conditions such as described in 1. above.
5. Therefore, we can assume that any decision rendered otherwise by judge
and/or jury is brainless.
For technological widgets we bend over backwards to make them safe and we don't
rely on labels to protect the general user (trained service persons, however,
can be "protected" by labels in certain cases). However, our
legislators/politicians think they can affect and protect our behavior by labels
and warning statements. This does not really work;--warning labels are for
others, never for ourselves!
So, what is the answer? -- Education for "intelligent" people; and safe design
(in case of a single fault, and a subsequent fault) for "dumb" widgets.
Plastering warning labels on breasts will no more eliminate alcoholic babies
than plastering warning labels on men's ....... will eliminate HIV.
Tania Grant
taniagr...@msn.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Gary McInturff
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2001 5:33 PM
To: 'Michael Mertinooke'; wo...@sensormatic.com; emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org
Subject: RE: Public Health and Safety Signs - Tomfoolery so delete if you
Here in the US, awhile back, a woman was suing the liquor industry
because she gave birth to a fetal alcohol syndrome child. Apparently, nobody
in their right mind would assume that consuming a fifth of whiskey a day
could be harmful to a developing fetus making the liquor industry patiently
and damnably negligent in not putting warning labels on the bottles. (We got
them now thank God!)
During the coverage of the trial, and I don't remember the context,
but the issue of passing nastiness to infants who were being breast fed was
also brought up. While I didn't hear the end of this I often have wondered
that if that was true, and this woman's case had merit (her lawyer took it
up didn't he?) then the logical extension would be that mothers milk should
come with a warning.
Soooooo.... Just what the heck will this label look like, and even
more importantly, just where are they going to put it so that people, can
easily read it!!!!!
Gary
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Mertinooke [mailto:mertino...@skyskan.com]
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2001 12:37 PM
To: wo...@sensormatic.com; emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org
Subject: RE: Public Health and Safety Signs
>signs at work. Is there a similar Directive for health and safety signs for
>the general public?
Whoo! The mind boggles! You mean with like people with "exclamation
point in triangle" tattoos on various portions of the anatomy? Or
biohazard labels on the door of the kids' rooms? Judging
from some of the ANSI Z535 safety labels I see in the catalogs, the
Human Warning Labels would be interesting indeed. .... =]
Cheers!
Mike
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