I read several articles recently about the limitations placed on UK workers for fear of injury. Such as the firemen forbidden to change lightbulbs because they had to climb a ladder to do so.

I thought they were jokes until I came across this article.

Please, carefully click the mouse to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome. Or ask for someone more capable and careful to help you during this operation. We are not responsible for any injury manifested during this procedure.

Some of these are silly, like the warning about the bench becoming wet, but others are useful. I for one would appreciate being warned about any wasp nests, slippery surfaces, sudden drops, or open graves in the area.

The comments by Annie, Gary, Jade and Clive tell you why these kinds of signs exist. Some years ago England adopted the US model of civil legislation, which means that people can now sue for a stated amount of compensation, rather than, as was the old system, of simply suing and having the damages assessed by a panel.

This means there is now a proliferation of "ambulance chasing" lawyers who will take on just about any case on a "no win-no fee" basis - making sure, of course, that they sue for a massive sum thus earning a massive fee. This has had the obvious result that people are suing for all sorts of minor damages - and why not - it costs them nothing. But it does cost the insurance companies so premuims increase and companies put up silly notices simply so they can tell their insurers that they have done their best to minimise the risk.

One sees these kinds of singns in the USA, of course, and for similar reasons; if that particular disease hasn't yet infected Canada then I raise my hat to the Canadian Government.

One of the less savory modern developments.

I haven't noticed many signs like that here but I have seen weird notices on instruction booklets. I bought an electric razor several years ago and one line said, "Do not use while in the shower."

Of course, I saw that AFTER I used it in the shower.

quote:

This means there is now a proliferation of "ambulance chasing" lawyers who will take on just about any case on a "no win-no fee" basis - making sure, of course, that they sue for a massive sum thus earning a massive fee.

First of all, and I can only talk about the U.S.A., the personal injury lawyers are, by a large degree, not highest paid attorneys, and, in fact, they tend to be the lowest paid ones. Secondly (and I know that I am biased), people seem to hate lawyers...until they need one.

I loved this sign: "Water presents danger to small children."

While I am sure that Richard is right that we have our nanny type signs as well, it's my perception that there are more in the U.K. For example, I've never been in a subway in the U.S.A. where there has been the caution to "Mind the gap" or to mind anything else, for that matter. Indeed, there probably should be signs saying "Mind the wallet."

Much is made of "health and safety madness" - it's nearly as popular as "political correctness gone mad" - but I'm not so sure. I mock it and make fun of it myself and there is a lot of truth in the frequent comments we hear about compensation culture. But for most of those signs, is there really anything wrong with them?
"Please be aware of wasps nesting in this area" sounds like a reasonable warning to me, wasp stings can be dangerous - especially to children.

"Climbing into this bank..." may be a bit over the top but kids do stupid things. A warning might make them stop and think.

"Surfaces may become slippery when wet" is just a posher polite way of saying "Watch out! This surface is wet."

The only ones that seem totally pointless to me are "This flower bed is covered by CCTV" and "Seats may become wet" and the first of those could just be because they have previously had trouble with vandals.

Maybe I'm just going soft in my old age but there doesn't seem to me to be any intrinsic problem with warning people of potential dangers that they may not have spotted.

And after typing all of that I'm wondering myself who this imposter is and what's happened to the real Bob Hale.

quote:

I've never been in a subway in the U.S.A. where there has been the caution to "Mind the gap" or to mind anything else, for that matter

There are no signs in the Tube (Underground) that say this - or if there are, I have never seen them.

"Mind the Gap" is a vocal announcement that is made at stations on the system where the line is curved, which means that some of the doors will have a larger than usual gap between the door sill and the platform. A similar announcement is made on normal mainline rail services - although less commonly since there are few stations on curves on the mainline network.

In fact, there are relatively few behavioural signs on the Tube; most of the signs give information about directions of travel. One of the few signs that does appear on all the stations on the Tube that have escalators is the one adving people to stand on the right and walk on the left. If you see someone standing on the left on an escalator - it will be a foreigner!

Someone gave me a toy pair of amber prismatic "Space Goggles" which carried the warning "Not to be used for space travel".

I'm amused by the recorded PA announcements played on rainy/snowy days when I arrive at the London railway terminus: "Due to the inclement weather, please take extra care on the station. Surfaces may be slippery."

Inclement?

Inclement?

Showing no clemency: merciless.

quote:

And after typing all of that I'm wondering myself who this imposter is and what's happened to the real Bob Hale.

Me too!

quote:

There are no signs in the Tube (Underground) that say this - or if there are, I have never seen them.

There is no difference between a sign or vocal announcement. You, as is your MO, are trying to change the subject. I find that vocal announcement amusing...or even a little endearing, that's all. We have gaps, too, but don't have an announcer warning us of that. It's cultural, of course, and it's always interesting to see differences across countries. I saw many in South Africa. Heaven knows we have many of our own in the U.S.

quote:

There is no difference between a sign or vocal announcement.

A sign is a sign and a vocal announcement is a vocal announcement. Although they both convey information they do so in different ways and serve different purposes. Try informing a deaf or blind person that the two things are the same! This thread was about signs, which is why I made the point about signs.

I have never heard an announcement about "minding the gap" in the USA or Canada - but then many (most?) main line railways in those countries do not have platforms and thus do not have gaps. What they do have is a flight of steps from which to disembark and the announcements about safety when disembarking are lengthy and detailed.

Remember, too, you only get a gap where the platform is curved and most platforms are straight; ideed, the only main line station I know of where there is a gap (and therefore an announcement) is Clapham Junction. The Tube is different having many curves and several curved platforms which is why the announcement is most common on the Tube.

There may be such announcements at train stations in the States but the sound system is so atrocious that no one can understand them.

In the morning when I wait for the train, which is often late, the announcer comes on with about a 90 word diatribe...to say the train will be 6 minutes late. We can never believe the number of words he uses to say that, and most of them we can't figure out because of the muffled system. At the very end we usually hear the "6" and that's it. It's always due to "failure of arrival of equipment." One might think they'd figure that out! We think the failure of arrival is probably a late conductor.

Although we have vocal announcements on stations, these are now supplemented on most stations by a computer system, the monitors of which give realtime information about the situation of the next few services.

So, if a train is delayed, its sheduled arrival time is shown together with its expected arrival time. Other status information is also posted so that travellers can make an informed decision as to whether to change their plans.

On my line there are two separate types of PA announcements. Those such as "The next train from platform 2 will be for Dartford ..." are automatic, made up from pre-recorded segments. It's only when something goes wrong that a real live human has to make an announcement. They vary considerably in intelligibility depending on the announcer.