In the true tradition of only Safety knows best, safety tells (https://safetyrisk.net/xmas-safety-poem-safety-tells/), dumbs for safety (https://safetyrisk.net/dumbs-for-safety/) and this toaster is hot (https://safetyrisk.net/this-toaster-is-hot/) we have this one.
I visited the National Museum (NMA) (https://www.nma.gov.au/) this morning to see the new mirror installation that has only been up for a few weeks. We have had no hot summer weather yet in Canberra.
The mirrors make a wonderful entrance to the NMA that was previously just concrete path. Here you can see the mirror installation with my 4 year old granddaughter in the distance to give perspective. See Figure 1. Mirror Installation. She loved the many ways in which her reflection bounced off the mirrors, mirror balls and mirror angles.
Figure 1. Mirror installation.
Then of course, in comes Safety. We cannot just enjoy this installation and the pleasure it gives, we have to do so with anxiety. For at the far end of the mirrors, 50 metres away from the lowest part where you can actually touch the mirrors is this sign. See Figure 2. Caution Sign.
Figure 2. Caution Sign.
Of course when you come from the carpark there is no sign at the end that the kids can touch, nor a sign to tell you the mirror balls can get hot, which they can’t. The objects themselves don’t get hot, mirrors reflect light and in this location could only do so in late afternoon. Of course, note the language. Good olde Safety worries about its own reflection, the surface could ‘possibly’ get hot in sunlight, which it can’t.
No, what we have here is Safety on show in pure anxiety for something that hasn’t happened and is unlikely to happen. Some crusader in their wild imagination on petty pissy safety (https://safetyrisk.net/petty-pissy-zero-harm/) has decided that a sign is needed because people are stupid and someone might get burned which of course they can’t. The shape, angle and location of the mirrors pose no safety threat to anyone.
Interestingly, 50 meters away is a lake with no fencing or barricade, or safety barriers to keep people safe (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-12/woman-dies-in-accidental-fall-at-grampians-boroka-lookout/12978484). The car park is not fenced and families walk openly across it to get to the mirror wall.
And we wonder why people hate safety?
This is the mindlessness that only zero can create. This is the petty pissy stuff that zero manufactures. Watch out Safety, someone might fall over a mirror ball. When zero is your god, your worship can only be crusading (https://safetyrisk.net/safety-crusaders-anonymous/ ). When my family saw the sign, their first response was, ‘you can’t be serious!’
Wynand says
I actually think this is one of the places where Hazardman and reflect can be used in the same sentence, since the mirrors do provide the opportunity for reflection.
Bernard Corden says
I went to the local shopping centre over the weekend and decided to buy an iced coffee from one of the surrounding outlets in the food hall.
There were three laminated A4 leaflets affixed to the counter detailing requirements covering Covid-19.
The instructions were barely legible and no customers bothered reading the guidelines, which included a Queensland state government logo in the top right hand corner.
I asked the young lady behind the counter what additional degree of protection the laminated leaflets provided for her and the general public.
She responded……..”I don’t know what you are talking about”.
Cool, awesome, excellent.
Admin says
I got in trouble at Myer yesterday because i missed the tiny green arrow on the floor and entered via the covid safe exit! Phew! lucky they pulled me up or I could have died. Then at Anaconda they had to close the covid safe exit because of the rain – that must have caused them some angst, so much so they forgot to lay out their wet weather mats on the shiny terrazzo
Rob Long says
What people get most annoyed about is the incongruence of this safety stuff. It is most often the petty pissy stuff that is amplified and the high level risks ignored.
Rob Long says
Nothing more important to the industry of zero than pissy petty safety. I’m sure when the Titanic was sinking Safety was tidying up the ropes in case someone tripped getting into a life raft.
Admin says
Someone must have told Hazardman to look into this and reflect. More chance of someone tripping over his stupid sign!