The Carrick Times - a weekly newspaper covering the town of Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland - ran a story last month that rather struck a chord with the team here at Label Source. The report stated that walkers had been ignoring safety signs that were put in place by the local council to keep people away from a dangerous coastal path that had recently seen a series of rockfalls:
"Signage has been erected to warn the public of the danger and barrier fencing has been installed to physically prevent public access...the path currently represents a very real and present danger"
It is hard to know what goes on in the mind of somebody who ignores warning signs and wanders into such a hazardous area. Standardised safety signs are designed to be as visible as possible, and so - unless the Carrickfergus council are positioning them out of sight - we can only assume that people are wilfully flouting the restrictions and hopping the barrier that would otherwise keep them out of harm's way.
This, sadly, is not the first we've heard of people ignoring safety signs and putting themselves at risk. We as a nation seem to think that health and safety is something we can afford to disregard, but measures like this are designed to keep you safe (whether from rockfalls or other hazards).
It's even worse when you realise that people in other parts of the world are going out of their way to get signs like these put in. Consider the story of the Australian woman whose granddaughter stepped on a venomous stonefish on the shore of a local river; ever since this incident, she has been battling to get a safety sign placed near the river, but the local authorities have so far been of very little help, it seems.
Clearly, we should be thankful for the health and safety laws that get safety signs where they need to be in the UK. Ignoring those signs is foolish and potentially very dangerous - if you've ever walked straight past a hazard warning without taking any notice, make sure it doesn't happen again!
