For Health and Safety reasons we had a caution sign put on our hot water urn at work recently. It got me thinking about how much aspects of the world have changed in the last decade or so. When I was young my dad would take me to the surf beach where I would tumble about in the waves. I know people who wont go there now as its too dangerous. There was a three story playground near my Grandmas house – I passed it a while ago and the top floor has been removed, the second floor fenced in…we used to climb on the roof and I never heard of a kid falling. Rope swings were on trees on hills – giving kids a terrifying rush when they held on with all their might…now the trees have been cut down due to danger risks.
Have we taken safety and caution so far that we are preventing people/kids from learning lessons any more? I cant help but think so.
Image wise, using my mobile phone and Vignette I was drawn to the urn for the simple and washed look. Black, white and red. The days sun coming from the left and casting the shadow of the urn and bareness otherwise leaves a simple, yet thoughtful image reflecting my above thoughts. In post processing with Gimp I cropped for the net and added an extra 1/4 to the left of the image to almost square the image and create the composition I was initially after.
MikeHawkey.com 
If it were your child injured or killed, would you want something to prevent the same think happening to another. You give somebody advice like ‘keep your hands behind the blade’, especially if you saw what somebody was doing was inherently fraught with danger.
To your picture – personally, I’d be more concerned about what seems to be a bit of dodgy wiring – using wiring flex to a fixed appliance is just atrocious in my book – smacks of cheapskate employers doing stuff on the fly. And how do you switch the thing off if there’s a problem? And the appliance doesn’t drain into a sink either, pretty mindless bit of diy all round by the look of it. And is it level?
Ho, ho, eee yer af to av a laff. 😉
Thanks for your comments
There is a place for warnings and caution without a doubt. Where that starts and finishes is the question. There is a level of common sense and acceptable risk vs ‘here is a hidden real danger’. In day to day life we do many things that could lead to injury or worse- one is in more danger crossing the road then many other things like swinging on a rope swing off a tree.
The appliance is a funny one. I was there when it was put it in – installed by the manufacturers regional supplier (yes,its crooked!), It’s not mains wired, & plugs into a outlet just above the photo – as recomended by their guide and the electrician. Overlow drain feeds into the main waste pipe, so no issues there. Made me laugh though (mostly the wonderfuly alignment) – Ive done better jobs myself for people.
When I travel to poorer nations where the second and third level of playgrounds are the least of their worries, I am often struck by the sheer determination people have for survival. When you take that element of day to day survival out of the equation, people get bored, stupid, and lack respect for their own safety. People should be the master of their own personal safety. Children have the capacity to learn the difference between safe and not. Western society seems to think not. Should there be a sign up at every perceivable danger in the world? Should someone else be held accountable where there isn’t a sign?
Thanks for your comments. Great points. As you put more eloquently then my initial post, capacity to learn & personal responsibility. There’s a place for warnings, just not everywhere!